Transcending Reality
by Meirelle
Summary: This is a FF7/FF8/FF9 crossover story. A few characters find out that the world they've lived in all their lives is, in reality, just a fantasy world that belongs to a certain role-playing game that we’re all so very fond of.
1. The Light

"Transcending Reality"  by: Emerald Eyes

"I try to close my eyes, but I cannot ignore the stimuli. If there's a purpose for our soul it remains a secret to me. Don't ask me to justify my life." **–Bad Religion**
    
    It's a crossover between Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9. So what's the plotline?
    
     Well, some of the characters find out that the world they've lived in all their lives is, in reality, 
    
    just a fantasy world from a video game that we're all so very fond of. 
    
    But... I'm afraid things just can't be that simple. 
    
    Our favortie mad scientist shows up as well as another familiar face... 
    
    and things turn out to be completely different than anyone ever expected them to be... ^_^

Oh yeah, I don't own Reno (although it would be rapture if I did), Elena, Rude, or any of the other Final Fantasy characters in this fanfic. Squaresoft owns them. In fact, much to their surprise, characters are inexplicably popping up in the middle of Squaresoft Headquarters. They're conducting secret experiments on Vivi right now (poor kid). ^_^

^_^_^

Chapter One: The Light

The last rays of the sun slid behind the black silhouette of a line of buildings on the side of the bustling street. Above, in the darkening sky, the stars began to twinkle. It was a comfort to look up in the sky and finally not see the red glare of Meteor. It seemed as if the world was peaceful once again. 

It was just another normal night on the Planet for the Turks. Two months since Meteor, and the ex-Shinra employees were aimlessly moving from city to city searching for a new job. Some places paid ridiculously low, most turned them down. Turks: Shin-Ra's elite force. They're the bad guys now. Nobody wants them. So naturally, after a hard day trying to become employed, Reno and Rude would head out to the nearest bar and get completely intoxicated. 

Elena sighed and stared at the door to the old run-down Rocket Town pub, waiting impatiently for her two drunken friends to stumble out. The wait became unbearable, and just as she was about to storm into the bar and drag Reno out by the hair, a familiar face appeared.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy!!!" Reno greeted drunkenly, "Why won't you come in and have a drink with Rude and I?" He smiled and hiccupped.

Elena looked at her drunken friend: his shock of red hair was sticking out in all directions, more than it usually was. His eyes were glazed over and unfocused, and he was swaying on his feet. "Uhm… Reno? I think you've had enough to drink, don't you?"

Reno, who now had to be held up by Elena, seemed to consider her question for a few moments. After much contemplation he answered, "No."

"Reno," Elena said slowly and carefully, as if trying to talk to a five year old, "I'm going to go in and get Rude. I want you to stay here, okay?"

Reno wasn't paying any attention. His eyes were fixed on a scantly dressed, attractive brunette who was walking up the street. "Heya, babe. You're lookin' pretty hot. Wanna go out with me?" At those words the brunette gasped and brought her hand up to cover her mouth. Her other hand came up and slapped Reno across the face. "Ow," he said, wincing.

Elena frowned. "On second thought, I think you can come with me."

Reno nodded dumbly as Elena led him into the bar. Inside, Rude was sitting on a stool drinking a concoction of orange liquid. From the citrus smell of it, the libation appeared to be a screwdriver.

"Come on," Elena said flatly, "we're leaving." 

Rude looked knowingly at her and responded. "I'm surprised he hasn't passed out already." 

Elena glanced at Reno. He flashed her a clueless grin and started humming a nameless drunken tune. 

"You're right," said Rude, "Let's get out of here before he decides to have another drink." Elena knew Rude was just as drunk as Reno, but for some reason he always seemed to handle the alcohol better.

Rude and Elena helped Reno, who was still humming, out the door. As soon as they entered the cold night air, a young man with black hair and dark blue eyes walked up to them. He was dressed down in a pair of old jeans and a gray t-shirt. The man put his pale hands in the pockets of his black trench coat to protect them from the cold.

"You're the Turks, right?" He asked, just slightly unsure of himself. The man knew how to mask his emotions well. "Come with me."

"Who are you?" Rude asked.

"That's not for you to know," the man replied, all hints of emotion gone. "Now if you'll follow me." He waited patiently, leaning casually against the wall of the pub. 

"Um…" Elena started, "I don't think we should—" She was cut off by Rude, who held up his hand, signaling for her to stop. This was what Rude was like when he was drunk. He wasn't an idiot or an asshole like Reno, he just lost all common sense. There was a job opportunity in Cosmo Canyon, and Rude had been the one who wanted to get there by morning. Again, there was the fact that about half the planet wanted to kill them, and it wasn't a bright idea to go off with someone not familiar.

Elena shut up and walked after her two drunken companions who were following the mysterious man. If the man decided to try anything, she should be able to take care of it. After all, she was a Turk, and the man didn't look that tough. And if he wasn't there to kill them, whatever he needed to say, it shouldn't take long, and they'd be on the road and at Cosmo in the morning. 

He led them into a dark alleyway. Elena silently wondered why he didn't just say what he needed to say out in front of the bar. Finally the man stopped and turned around to make sure everyone had followed.

"All right," said Rude, "start talking." 

The man, however, didn't talk. Instead, he reached into his coat pocket and retrieved something that looked somewhat like a remote control.

"What the hell is that?!" queried a shocked Reno.

The man smiled. "This device, Reno, will bring you into reality." The ambiguous expression the statement brought to the redhead's face amused the young man.

"Huh?" Reno replied, confused, "What the fuck does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough" was the only answer he would offer.

Elena looked puzzled. "Who _are_ you?" The man chose not to answer. Instead he pushed one of the many buttons on the odd-looking device.

Before any of the Turks could react, a blinding flash of light erupted out of nowhere, sending Rude, Reno, and Elena into unconsciousness.

^_^_^

Emerald's Ramble: I re-did the chapter because I wasn't happy with it. It seemed too cheesy. Anyhow, I like this revamped chapter a lot better. ~_^


	2. A Redhead, A Gunblade, and The Inexplica...

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

"Now I'm here for all to see everything torn out of me. Too late to drown in all my doubt. Too much, too late to sort things out." **–Gravity Kills**

This is the second chapter to my freaky little fic. This is where the plotline starts to get weird. I live for reviews, but please no flames. If I made a mistake somewhere, or if there was something about the story that bothered you, by all means, tell me… but please don't be a meanie. Oh yeah, this chapter is MUCH better than the previous one. I didn't take the time to add to the first chapter like I usually do when I write. But I think this chapter is really interesting (and you can expect all the chapters subsequent to it to be that way too!)… And for all of you FF8 fans: this is your lucky day (er… I should say 'lucky chapter')! –Emerald Eyes ^o^ Oh yeah, I don't own the characters… blah blah blah blah… squaresoft's property… blah blah blah… 

Chapter Two: A Redhead, A Gunblade, and The Inexplicable

Reno awoke. He couldn't remember anything from the previous night. '_I must have been plastered_,' he thought. He slowly opened his eyes, expecting the light to be harsh and unwelcoming. Instead he found it to be quite friendly. '_That's odd_,' he thought, '_I should have a hell of a hangover_.' He lay motionless on the cold floor for a while, trying to remember what had happened to him. He didn't remember much of anything at all, but that was understandable.

Reno took a look at his surroundings. He was in a dimly lit, rather uncomfortable looking room. There were a few desks here and there, swivel chairs abandoned haphazardly by them. Papers littered the desks, while some were discarded unceremoniously on the rough carpeted floor. Judging by the way the place was deserted; he guessed the time to be at some ungodly hour of the night when all of the people that worked in the office were at home in bed.

He slowly sat up and unconsciously rubbed the cramp in his neck. He had been lying in an awkward position for quite a while, judging from the high level of pain. He rose to his feet and stretched. 

Being very curious at the moment he decided to explore his surroundings. Reno made his way past various desks. He stopped to examine a particular piece of paper that had captured his interest. It was sprawled out on the desk lying atop a keyboard for a computer. It was a picture of an optimistic blonde teenage boy wearing a yellow shirt and blue overalls. He was carrying a sword that looked like it was made of water. Beneath the picture there was a logo that read "Final Fantasy X" and the name "Tidus" below that, followed by "Character design by Tetsuya Nomura."

Reno, his interest in the picture now depleted, moved from the desk. His foot bumped against something soft on the floor, causing a groan to emanate from underneath the desk. Reno frowned. '_Is it just me, or does it sound like someone's chilling underneath the desk?'_ Curious, he bent down to look underneath. 

He was right. Underneath the desk a teenage boy with ruffled brown hair and a peculiar looking sword was sprawled out in a rather uncomfortable position. The boy wore black pants, a white tee shirt, and a comfy looking black jacket with a fur collar.

Reno was unsure of what to do with the boy. What exactly _was_ he supposed to do? It wasn't everyday that you woke up on the floor all by yourself, in a place you've never been before, having no clue what was going on.

Thankfully, he didn't have to do anything. The unconscious teenager groaned again and shifted positions. His eyes slowly slid open and soaked in the scene with mild interest. When his gray eyes fell on the redhead before him, his bewildered expression instantly turned hostile. The brunette leaped onto his feet and in the blink of an eye had his "sword" against Reno's throat. 

The redhead held a very astonished expression on his face. He obviously hadn't expected the brunette to react as quickly as he did. It was very rare for someone to outsmart a Turk, especially if that Turk just happened to be Reno.

"Who are you?" the boy spat out menacingly, "Where is this place? Why am I here?" 

The boy looked to be in control but by the way his hands were shaking, and the quick, shallow breaths he was taking, the Turk could tell that he was a bit frightened. Using this to his advantage, Reno slowly inched his hand towards the nightstick that was resting at his left hip. Thankfully, the boy didn't seem to notice. '_Good_,' thought Reno, '_He'll be in for a bit of a surprise_.'

Before the kid in the black jacket knew what hit him, the Turk had inflicted him with a sufficient amount of electricity. The boy cried out and slumped to the ground. His eyes meekly stared up at the redhead towering over him. The boy coughed. 

"Who are you?" he weakly managed to get out.

The redhead grinned, "My name's Reno. I'm a Turk. That'll explain why you just got your ass kicked." The brunette glared up irately causing Reno laugh, "What's your name, kid?"

"Squall," the boy said simply. Reno waited for him to say more, but when it became obvious that Squall had nothing more to say he decided to speak.

"There's no reason for you to glare at me like that, kid. It looks to me like both you and I are in the same dilemma." Squall's expression softened at Reno's words, but he still glanced up uneasily at the Turk. "You see, I woke up on the floor over there in the corner only about ten minutes ago." The redhead pointed a bony finger to the spot where he had been sleeping, "I don't know anything more than you do."

Squall looked incredulously at him, "Whatever." The redhead stared back with intense green eyes. He wasn't going to say anything else, but curiosity finally overcame his suspicions. "I'm a SeeD, Reno, so don't underestimate me. And I've never heard of a 'Turk' before."

This caught Reno off guard. How could the kid not know who the Turks were? '_Everyone knows who we are'_, he thought, "Uh, Squall?" The boy looked at him curiously, "You've never heard of the Turks before?" When the boy shook his head Reno continued, "We work for, uh, USED to work for Shinra. We were in the Department of Administrative Research." Squall still held a blank expression on his face. "Uh…ShinRa Electric Company? You know, mako reactors, SOLDIER, that big-ass mako cannon in Junon?" Instead of the look of revelation Reno was expecting from the youth, the boy looked at him strangely.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the SeeD spat in annoyance, "I've never heard of any of the things you've just mentioned! Don't fuck with me, 'TURK'! Like I said, I'm with SeeD. I'm Squall Leonhart. I saved the world from Sorceress Ultemecia and time compression."

"Would you believe it," the Turk passively said, "if I told you that I have never heard of this 'SeeD' thing before? I've never heard of this Sorceress Ulte-whatever, and I have no idea what the hell 'time compression' is, kid," he paused to think of something more to say, "And, Leonhart, I've never heard of YOU."

"Whatever," Squall sighed. Reno's comments were only making him irate, "Reno, it would be impossible for you NOT to have heard of SeeD."

"…And it's also kind of impossible for you to have never heard of ShinRa Incorporated before…"

Both men were contemplating the meaning of each other's words when two blondes in white walked into the room…

"R—Rufus?" an incredulous Turk stuttered, not believing his eyes, "You're supposed to be dead…"

Squall Leonhart's eye's narrowed and glared at the other blonde who had entered, "Seifer…"

^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^

Oooooo… suspense! So… want to know exactly what's up with Seifer and Rufus? Well, you'll find out in the next chapter (which I've already started to write). Please be nice and write a review… and if you get bored enough, email me: spookyfox1@hotmail.com. I also have some artwork for this story. I don't like a lot of my artwork, but everyone says I'm a real good artist so you might want to check it out. Email me if you want to see any…


	3. Strawberry Marigold

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

Heh… this one's chapter three in my little freaky story. I finally put something from FF9 in here. I wanted to wait before I beat the game before I did anything with the characters. I don't own any Final Fantasy characters. Squaresoft made them up, not me, and I am not making any Gil off of this story. ^_^

"Please don't bring me down with that look on your face because I almost didn't make it, and one day you just might know how that feels." **--Joydrop**

Chapter Three: Strawberry Marigold

It had been a normal day. He had been aimlessly wandering around the world with his posse over the past few months. They had been on the bridge to Fisherman's Horizon fishing.

Seifer, having a highly irritable personality, had become quite infuriated when Raijin, of all people, had caught a fish. He just had to rub it in, doing that little victory dance of his. Just when he didn't think he could stand it anymore, Fujin had decided to take some action, "RAGE," she said in annoyance and kicked poor Raijin right off the bridge into the blue waters of FH.

And for the first time in a long time, he let out a genuine laugh. He had actually felt good about himself. The sorceress's knight couldn't remember the last time he had had this much fun with his friends.

But as fate would have it, or perhaps by the hand of the deity that loathed him so much, something happened to ruin the happy moment. Seifer didn't remember much of the disturbing event, only that there was a man in a black trench coat… and a bright light.

Now Seifer Almasy found himself swimming through the murky waters of unconsciousness. The twilight of quasi-tangible and quasi-surreal bringing him to the surface, slowly luring him out of the dream world. 

It started with the sense of touch: a cold surface beneath his head and arms; the numbness in his right arm from him lying on it; the headache he was just now starting to develop. Then he could start to hear things: a low humming noise that might have been emanating from fluorescent lights, a coughing noise… and incoherent mumbling. 

Finally his eyelids slowly opened to reveal the world around him: the first thing he saw was a blank computer monitor. Further observation led him to the discovery that he had been passed out, sleeping with his head and arms resting on an office desk. He realized that the rest of his body was resting in a rather comfortable swivel chair.

Seifer rubbed his eyes and yawned. He suddenly remembered the coughing and mumbling he had heard in his sleep. The ex-knight turned his chair to look for the source of all the cacophony. There. He had spotted it: a young man with disheveled looking strawberry blonde hair. He was dressed in a white, posh looking business suit and matching trench coat.

Seifer walked over to the unconscious form to study it more. The blonde was curled up in a fetal position, and occasionally would end up in a coughing fit after mumbling something about an avalanche, an explosion, or a weapon of some sorts. Then he would start to violently shake.

_'How pathetic,'_ Seifer thought to himself. He decided that the blonde before him was wasting too much of his time. He wanted answers. Seifer scowled down at the man and unceremoniously kicked him in the ribs. Hard.

The man on the floor let out a startled gasp. His eyes shot open and immediately fell on Almasy's complacent face. "Who—" he fell into another violent strand of coughing "—Who are you?"

Seifer smirked when the man before him rubbed the spot where he had kicked him, then his smile faded. "I think you should tell me who YOU are! Tell me what the hell is going on! I remember fishing with my posse at FH, and then I wake up here, in a completely different environment. Can you explain any of this?" 

The man stared up disdainfully at Seifer, "No, I can't explain any of this, and I think you should watch your mouth. You don't want to know what sort of things I could have the Turks do to you…"

Seifer cracked up, "What? You're saying someone like you could hurt someone like me? Heh, that's a good one."

"You don't have any idea who I am, do you?" Seifer shook his head and the blonde on the floor continued, "I'm Rufus Shinra, President of ShinRa Electric Company."

Seifer gave Rufus a pompous look, "And I was supposed to know that?"

Rufus tried to get up, but had discovered a little too late that he was still too weak to stand. He lost his balance and crashed tersely to the floor as another coughing fit overcame him. 

Seifer was laughing hysterically now as the President of Shinra Incorporated stared up at him furiously.

"Don't be a smart-ass," Rufus said weakly, "Who are you?"

"Seifer Almasy, Sorceress Ultemecia's Knight."

Rufus smirked, "'And I was supposed to know that?'" he mocked.

"Tch. Fine, I guess we can call it even then. I've never heard of any of the things you talk about. It's as if they don't even exist." At hearing Seifer's words, Rufus Shinra flinched and seemed to lose himself in his thoughts, "And I'm not going to let anyone manipulate me! Especially you, Shinra!" 

The former president didn't even hear the last part of Seifer's speech. The ex-sorceress's knight was about to tell the blonde before him to stop ignoring him when Rufus came out of his trance. He looked up at Seifer quite alarmed and quickly stuttered out "Are you supposed to be dead?"

"Huh?" Seifer's indignant look quickly dissipated to be replaced with confusion.

"Did you die?" the president asked again.

"Uh…no…" Seifer answered hesitantly. "Why would you ask a question like that?"

Rufus Shinra looked horrified, "Because I'm supposed to be dead, Almasy!"

Seifer took a long moment to look over his blonde companion on the floor: he was shivering again, so much that his teeth were chattering. He looked very pale and had also shut himself off to the outside world again since he had last spoken. _'He doesn't look so good'_, Seifer thought, _'Talking about being dead, being president of a powerful company that everyone should know about…he's delusional…insane.'_ But what was he supposed to do? Leave him here?

Seifer sighed and began to help the man to his feet. "Come on, Rufus. I'm gonna go find someone who can help you."

Rufus looked at the boy that he was now leaning on for support. "Help…?" he asked ambiguously, then struggled to get free of Seifer's grasp. "Gotta go to Midgar," he mumbled, "Turks, Reeve, Scarlet, Heidegger, Palmer…they'll help."

The ex-knight struggled to control the delusional man. "Hey! Take it easy. I'm not so sure I can get you to this 'Midgar', but maybe I could take you to Esthar or Galbadia. I'm sure there's someone there who could help you."

"…Esthar…?"

^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^

And Seifer _was_ looking for help. He had dragged Rufus down hallway after hallway in the deserted building. No one was there. The president, however, was getting much worse. He was only half conscious at that point, and he had started to carry on a conversation with himself.

After a while of searching the vacant hallways, Rufus had grown too weak to walk, so he had leaned him up against a wall, and had continued on without his burden. He had walked past many unoccupied rooms and hallways that all looked the same. _I'd better be careful or I may never find my way back…_

Lost in his thoughts, Seifer absently rounded the corner to the drab hallway… and ran right into a little girl. The ex-knight stared openly at her. She had thick lilac hair that ran to her shoulders, and to make the sight even more amazing, Seifer noticed that she had a horn on her head.

"Hey!" the girl huffed, "You should watch where you're going, Mister! You nearly ran me over!"

Seifer, ignoring the girl's comment, asked curiously, "What's a little girl like you doing in a place like this?"

The girl shrugged. "I dunno. I was with Cid in Lindblum and there was a light. Then I was here."

"Cid…? Lindblum…? Whoa, did you say you saw a light?"

"Yeah," the girl said, "It was bright and it hurt my eyes," the lilac-haired girl ran her green eyes curiously over Seifer. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Um…" the ex-knight tried not to gape at the girl's appearance. "The light. It was the light that brought me here: just like you." 

The girl's eye's widened, "_Really?_ Whoa, that's weird. I wonder if there's anyone else stuck here like we are…"

"Actually," Seifer started, "I woke up in a room with another guy. He said his name was Rufus." the blonde desperately hoped that he could remember his way back to the unconscious president.

The girl giggled. "'Rufus.' That's a funny name. By the way, my name's Eiko. Eiko Carol. And you are…?"

"My name's Seifer Almasy." The blonde seemed to muse a bit before he spoke again, "I have to get going, Eiko. Rufus is sick and I need to find help," he explained.

Eiko's eyes brightened. "Seifer, wait! If he's sick, I can help him! I know White Magic!" Seifer stared at her blankly. "Where's he at?" He pointed off the way he had come. The girl left the ex-knight's side and ran off in the direction in which he pointed.

"White Magic?" Seifer stared after her, "What the hell is that?" He followed the girl with his eyes for a while longer, then decided that he would find out exactly what this Eiko girl was up to. "Hey, Eiko, wait up."

^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Oooo…that's old. I'm six."

"Yeah, that's nice."

"This place looks strange, don't you think?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, it does look a little outdated."

"_What?!_ No way! It looks so… futuristic."

It was like that for the past ten minutes. Seifer was thankful that Rufus wasn't much farther. He didn't think he could stand the girl's annoying questions any longer.

"Oooo, is that him?" Eiko pointed towards an unconscious blonde man dressed in white. He was lying in the exact same position as Seifer had left him. Eiko giggled, "He's dressed funny."

"Yeah," Seifer unenthusiastically answered, "That's him."

Without a word, Eiko marched up to the unconscious form. She closed her eyes and started chanting something incoherent. A white light made of pure energy began to form in front of the girl. "Curaga," the girl said simply. The light transferred from Eiko's outstretched hands into the unconscious blonde that lay before her.

Rufus stirred and blinked his eyes wearily, "Seifer?"

Seifer gaped at the girl once again. "How did you do that? You don't have a GF junctioned, do you? But you were able to cast Curaga."

"What's a 'GF'?" the girl asked curiously.

"Guardian Force," Seifer replied, as if Eiko could understand the meaning of the words he had just spoken.

"What's a 'Guardian Force?'" Rufus asked, "And why do you need one to use magic? The girl obviously has a cure materia. Materia is the only thing you need to use magic." He had been following the conversation very closely since he had been healed, and by the dumfounded looks that appeared on their faces when he had mentioned materia, Rufus was beginning to believe that he was someplace far, _far_ away from Midgar.

"What's a 'materia?'" Seifer and Eiko asked simultaneously. 

"And what's a Guardian Force, Seifer?" the lilac-haired girl added.

Rufus looked at the two and sighed. He searched his pockets for one of the smooth, marble-shaped objects known as materia. When he had found what he was looking for, he brought the object out for his two curious comrades to see.

"This is an ice materia," he stated, handing the glowing green orb to Eiko, "It lets you cast ice spells."

"Whoa," the girl marveled as she delicately held the orb in her hands, "This'll let you use magic? How does it work?"

"Uh… well," the blonde started, "You hold the materia and… I guess you just concentrate on the spell. I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain."

Eiko looked thoughtfully at the materia, then stared deeper into it, concentrating. She then looked up at Seifer. "Ice," she said. Without warning, ice crystals started forming around the prone figure. The ex-knight was nearly cleaved in half by the jagged shards of magical ice. The girl looked pleased with herself.

Rufus struggled to conceal a smile as Seifer began to get up from where the spell had knocked him to the ground. The blonde that Eiko had harassed was shivering violently.

"That wasn't funny!" he growled at the two. He the turned to the contented girl and snatched the green orb from her hands. "Gimme that, you brat!" He then pocketed the materia. 

Rufus glared at him, "What are you doing with my materia?"

"Keeping it," the blonde replied simply, "You never know…I might need it. Especially with people like you around," he sighed, "I'm not junctioned with a Guardian Force at the moment, so this may come in handy."

"Hey," Eiko started again, "you never did tell us what that GF thing was!"

Seifer looked less that pleased at trying to explain what a GF was, but he tried his best to make them understand. "A Guardian Force is a monster that you can summon from another dimension." He was going to try to explain more when he noticed the looks of revelation on their faces. Apparently it didn't take much to make them understand.

"Oh," mused Rufus, "I see what you mean. A Guardian Force is like a Summon."

"You have eidolons where you come from?" the girl asked curiously.

"Uh," Seifer tried his best to answer the girl's question, "Yeah, I guess I do…if these 'eidolon' things are anything like GFs."

Rufus Shinra looked at his surroundings and then began to get up. He could stand fine on his own this time, thanks to Eiko Carol's mysterious Curaga spell. "I don't know about you," he started, "but I'm very curious to know where we are and why we're here." He started to walk in the opposite direction that Eiko and Seifer had come from. He didn't look back.

"I don't know about you," the exuberant little girl stated, "but I certainly wanna know where we are, don't you, Seifer?"

^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! This chapter took for-(&@*%ing-ever! I must have written for about four hours straight today. I don't know what I want to do with this story next… do I want to continue where I left off at chapter two or do I want to bring in some of the other characters like Elena, or Fujin…hmmm… I don't know. I think I'm gonna return to our leader of Balamb Garden and his Turk friend… but don't worry: the Turks and the Disciplinary Committee will reunite soon enough… --Emerald Eyes

Hey! Wanna talk? E-mail me: spookyfox1@hotmail.com


	4. Rivals

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

Okay, here it is: Chapter 4! It's strange. It turned out completely different than I had planned. But… I ended up liking it. O yeah, thanx for reviewing my fic, peoples! You have **no idea** how much that boosts my self-esteem. I would really like to thank Flayme for reviewing for every chapter and for mailing me. Anywho, I'm not making any gil off of this story. Instead I'm making Reno—er, um… nevermind. :)

"I was searching for some answer in your eyes. I find malicious laughter, hate, and lies… fucking lies!" **–Stabbing Westward**

# Chapter Four: Rivals

Squall stood staring at the man before him. With hostile eyes and venom in his voice, he spoke, "What are _you_ doing here?"

Seifer sighed. "Great," he said under his breath, "It's Puberty Boy… just what I need."

Although he was quite surprised to find the leader of Balamb Garden standing before him, he covered it up with one of his usual caustic remarks, "Leonhart," he smiled, "Nice to see you!" He frowned, "Hey, where's Chicken-wuss?"

Squall remained apathetic during Seifer's sardonic comments. Instead of replying, he focused on the other blonde who had entered the room with the ex-knight. He then turned to the redhead standing beside him, "Do you know him?"

The bewildered Turk nodded, "Yeah, he's my boss…but…" he trailed off, gawking at Rufus.

"But what?" asked Squall.

Reno shook his head out of frustration. "He shouldn't be alive."

"Oh?" Squall asked, looking slightly curious, "And why is that?"

Rufus hung his head. "Diamond Weapon…" he whispered.

Reno, the only other one in the group to react to his words, looked slightly uncomfortable. Squall and Seifer stared blankly at the ex-president.

"Um…" began Seifer, "…you mean Omega Weapon…?"

"…or Ultima Weapon?" Squall finished.

"Ultimate Weapon?" Rufus pondered for a moment, "Yeah, something like that. It shot some kind of energy blast towards my company's Headquarters in Midgar. Unfortunately, I was in my office on the 70th floor at the time…"

"So that's why you were going senile on me…" Seifer wondered out loud. Rufus shot him a look that could kill. "Uh, I mean, I would go crazy too if I got fried by some Weapon thing and I woke up to find myself half-dead and in a place I've never been before." he replied acerbically, "I would definitely start to doubt my sanity."

"Wait," a confused Turk asked, "You mean…? Was there some dude with a weird looking gizmo?"

Rufus shook his head, "I don't know. I don't recall anyone else being there."

Squall immediately snapped to attention at hearing the Turk's words. "Wait a minute. Reno, I saw a man in a trench coat… he said something about showing me 'reality' or something like that."

"Yeah," Seifer commented, "Same here, but I was with Fujin and Raijin when it happened…"

"Hmm," Reno frowned, "I was with Elena and Rude…I wonder if—"

"—Hey!" came a high pitched voice from beyond the door, "I saw someone, too!" A girl with violet hair walked into the room, "He had on weird clothes and he was dressed all in black. And he also had some weird looking thing with buttons on it."

"Eiko, I told you to wait outside!" Seifer scolded.

The girl chose to ignore the ex-knight's reproach and instead proceeded to run curious eyes over the rest of the room and its contents, including Squall and Reno.

The Turk and the SeeD turned their heads to stare at the young visitor. Reno blinked, "Who's the kid?"

Rufus looked like he was about to introduce her, but before he could say anything she began to talk, "My name's Eiko Carol… And I'm not a kid, I'm a _lady_!"

"Whatever," Squall said, seemingly uninterested in the child that stood before him. 

Reno, however, studied the girl curiously, "Where do you come from, Eiko? I've never seen anyone with purple hair before. And how'd you get a horn on your head?"

The girl looked more than happy to explain, but a rather irritated Seifer interrupted, "Look, the only reason why I'm here with any of you is because I want to find out where the hell I am, so talk later."

Squall stared menacingly at the ex-knight, "Shut up, Almasy!"

The two ShinRa employees watched with great interest.

"Why do you two hate each other so much?" Reno asked.

"I think it has something to do with the Sorceress's Knight thing," Rufus explained.

Squall happened to overhear this comment, "What? Sorceress's Knight?!" He glared at Seifer, "So, I guess you didn't learn, did you? You helped some crazy sorceress from the future destroy the world and now you're bragging about it. You're lucky I didn't kill you as soon as you walked through that door!"

Seifer smirked coldly, "I don't think you _can_ kill me."

The Squall drew his gunblade. "You'll regret that statement later," he growled.

Eiko shot a worried look towards the ex-President, "You don't think they're gonna _fight_ in here, do you?"

Rufus, who was absorbed in the scenario taking place before him, only shrugged.

Seifer laughed callously, "You want a fight, Leonhart? I'll give you a fight!" He drew his own weapon and advanced in on his nemesis.

^_^_^_^_^_^_^

The tiny room was suffocating. Berk lifted his head from where it lay on the table. He stared absently at the monotone black and white television screens.

Being a security guard for Squaresoft wasn't as interesting as he has originally thought. _Maybe it's because all the_ real _action takes place in the Tokyo building_, he mused, _and instead, I'm stuck in America._ But what did he care? He couldn't speak Japanese anyway. _And I'm sure they wouldn't hire a lazy-ass like me to work there anyhow._

Berk looked at his reflection in the nearest screen. Almond colored eyes stared back. His light auburn hair was disarrayed and out of place and there were bags under his eyes. He had been sleeping.

Berk stifled a yawn. He proceeded to check all the monitors. "Don't want to get fired," he said to himself, "…not yet, anyways." Screen after screen, boring black and white monotone, and no movement whatsoever. "Damn," he complained, "this job _does_ suck!"

He was about to lay his head back down and continue his nap when he noticed a monitor in the far corner. _Huh?_ he wondered, _What the fuck is this?_ He got up out of his chair to take a closer look.

Maybe he was still dreaming, and his hopes of this being an interesting job were mocking him… or maybe it was just his own wild imagination, but what he saw was impossible. "Shit!" he exclaimed, "This is unreal!"

He was wide-awake now, watching the two very familiar faces battle with gunblades on the tiny monitor. Just to make sure it wasn't a dream, Berk pinched himself. It hurt.

"Dude, this is too freakin' amazing!" He stood frozen, gaping at the tiny screen. "Squall and Seifer from Final Fantasy Eight," he said in awe. He then noticed the others, "Eiko from Nine… Reno and Shinra from Seven."

Berk was ecstatic. He abandoned his post in the tiny room and ran towards the elevator.

_Dude, I have_ got _to see this for myself!_

^_^_^_^_^_^

A man in a trench coat walked the vacant halls, his eyes glued on the device he held in his hand. 

_I know they're in here somewhere. Of all the places they could have showed up, it had to be at a Squaresoft building. How ironic. _He frowned at the contraption he held, _But it shouldn't have brought them here. Something must be wrong… _That thought made him shudder. He didn't want to imagine what kind of horrible disasters it would cause if something were defective.

Black hair fell into his eyes annoyingly as he tried to figure out why the device was failing to pick up any of their signals. _I don't understand why it's not working!_

_ _

His undivided attention centered on the device, he failed to notice the ecstatic man running in the opposite direction. They collided with each other and the over-exuberant, shorter man crashed to the floor.

The man in the trench coat ran curious eyes over him. He appeared to be dressed in some kind of uniform. _A security guard? I wonder why he's in such a hurry?_

"H-hey!" the guard said, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Looking for someone," the other man replied curtly. He ran his dark azure eyes over the guard before him. His eyes nervously kept on staring down the hall and he was fidgeting, obviously anxious about something. "You seem to be in a hurry. Is something wrong?"

"N-no! No, nothing's wrong," the redhead lied, "I, uh, just need to check up on something…"

"Hmm," the raven-haired man mused, "I would let you get back to work, but I need to ask you a question first." When the auburn-haired guard nodded, he continued, "Have you seen anyone else in the building tonight? Anyone who…distinctly resembles any Final Fantasy characters, perhaps?"

The man's eyes widened, "You mean you've seen them too?"

The other smiled. _Bingo_.

"Come on!" the lax security guard said as he ran down the hall, "They're this way!"

^_^_^_^_^_^

"_Stop!_" Eiko cried, "You're gonna kill each other!"

The two from Balamb Garden chose to ignore the young girl's pleading cries. 

Squall swung his weapon in a wide arc, narrowly missing it's target.

Seifer jumped back and prepared to strike, but then thought of a better idea. Smirking, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the Ice materia that he had absconded from Rufus earlier.

"Ice 3!" he said, concentrating on the SeeD in front of him. Magical, razor-sharp shards of ice slammed into Squall, knocking him to the ground. Seifer laughed.

Eiko watched in horror as the Sorceress's Knight pulled his weapon back and prepared to strike. "Stop!" she pleaded, "Please stop it!"

"Fuck," Reno cursed. He was too far away to stop the blonde man with any kind of physical attacks, and the only materia he had with him was a Cure materia…and it wasn't even mastered. Even if he could cure the injuries the ice spell made, it was too late to stop Seifer. Squall was as good as dead. _I highly doubt a Cure spell can help a dead man._

"Seifer!" Rufus yelled to no avail.

Seifer began to bring his gunblade down on the defenseless SeeD, the deadly blade descending in on Squall.

"_No!_" Eiko screamed in a terrified voice just before the gunblade met its target.

"_Holy!_" the girl screamed. A bright, white light made of pure energy filled the room. A scream was heard: not Squall's, but Seifer's.

When the light receded enough for everyone to see, they found the Sorceress's Knight sprawled out on the ground, unconscious.

Reno shook his head in wonder. "Damn, girl," he said to Eiko, "Remind me never to piss you off."

^_^_^_^_^_^

The dark man ran down the halls, following the exuberant security guard. Before long, they were standing in front of a plain, gray door.

"They're in here," the auburn haired man said. He reached for the doorknob.

"Wait a minute!" the other ordered. He frantically searched his pockets for the tiny green orb he needed. After several seconds, he had found it: Time materia.

"Stop," he said, casting the spell. The security guard froze in place, hand still reaching out towards the door.

With the problem taken care of, the man reached for the doorknob and entered the room.

"_Holy!_" a voice screamed.

_Oh, shit!_ He felt himself being pulled into unconsciousness by the potent spell.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into the faces of four _very_ angry people. _Well_, he thought, _at least I found them_. He glanced around the room. _Some of them, at least._

Then his eyes fell upon Rufus. _Rufus Shinra!?_ _What's he doing here?_

"So," an irate Turk started, "You're the bastard that brought us all here… What's your name?"

"Alexander," the man coughed out. "Where's everybody else?" he asked, "There's four people missing. And you"—he pointed to Rufus—"I didn't bring you here. How did you get here?"

"I don't know where the others are," said Squall, "Why don't you tell us?"

Alex suddenly remembered the device he had hidden in his coat pocket. He pulled it out and examined it. It was working now, but it was only picking up five people: the five in the room with him. "I don't know," he said truthfully.

Reno glared at him, "Hey, that's the thing that brought us here, isn't it? That means it can take us all back, right?" It wasn't a question, it was a threat, and just to make sure the man understood the message, Reno brought his nightstick into view.

"What are you talking about!?" Alex retorted, "I _liberated_ you!"

"Is that so?" Rufus asked pensively, "Then tell me, Alexander. What, exactly, did you liberate us from?"

Alex shook his head, "It's a long story."

Squall glanced askance at him. "Go ahead and tell us."

"Yeah," Eiko agreed, "We have the time."

End Ch. 4

Whoa! Like, major plot twists! I'm tired. It's, like, 2:30 in the morning. I just finished typing this. Sorry it took me so long to upload. I know there's some pretty unbelievable junk in this story, but bear with it, okay? It's **fiction**. It doesn't have to be believable. If you're gonna flame me, please don't do it for the plotline. Oh, and thank you **so much** for reading! And keep a look out for Chapter Four of _Transcending Reality_, "Another Time, Another Place." I should post it within a few weeks.

Oh, yeah! E-Mail Me: spookyfox1@hotmail.com


	5. Another Time, Another Place

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

Woo-hoo! Tis chapter 5, my friends! Are u bummed because u haven't seen ur fave character yet? Well… we're starting to see a few more people in this chapter… and I can't stand to leave anyone out of the madness, so eventually, everyone will get a part. Now… sit back, relax (but don't sleep), and enjoy the show! And no getting up in the middle of the fic to pop a bag of popcorn! You should have done that BEFORE you clicked the button! O_o AND I AIN'T MAKIN' GIL OFFA DIS FIC, YO! er… and I don't own the characters, either.

"Where I go, what I'll become or who I am or what I'll be, I'll never know…" –K's Choice

# Chapter Five: Another Time, Another Place

With a start she woke up. She appeared to be in a back alley of a town. _A real unindustrialized place_, she thought as she examined what she could of her surroundings, _Could this place be Kalm?_ Despite the rural feel to the place, she could hear the voices of many people coming from around the bend.

Getting up, she noticed an unconscious bald man in a Turk's suit lying next to her on the ground.

"Rude?" she whispered. Elena gently nudged Rude awake with the tip of her foot. His startled expression at seeing the unfamiliar place was quickly replaced by his usual stoic face.

Elena could sense the questioning glance he gave her from behind his sunglasses. "I don't know where we are," she answered truthfully, "I think we might be in Kalm, or maybe someplace near the mythril mines."

Getting up, Rude nodded his head and began to walk towards the end of the alleyway. Elena stared after him as he rounded the bend.

"Elena—!"

His rather urgent call upset her. Very rarely did Rude ever let any emotion be heard in his voice, yet this time it was there.

Elena deftly moved forward, trying hard not to let whatever lay beyond the alleyway intimidate her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and stepped around the corner.

She gasped upon opening her eyes, and she understood why Rude had sounded so urgent.

The bustling street before them was filled with people going about everyday life—except some of them weren't people at all. Some looked entirely inhuman in appearance. There were creatures with tails, glowing eyes, animal-like bodies, and almost anything else the imagination could think of.

Elena glanced at Rude, who stood beside her.

He shook his head. "This isn't Kalm, Elena."

Rude had regained his cool, and was now taking in the scene with apathy. Elena, on the other hand, was taking the situation rather badly.

She tried to stifle a scream as a little boy that resembled a rat bumped into her, almost knocking her to the ground. 

"Hey!" the rat-kid growled, "Move it, lady!"

"S-sorry," Elena stuttered, too stunned to say anything else. She quickly moved out of the child's way to let him pass. 

No sooner than the rat-kid had moved on, another child that looked equally strange came running past. Although his clothes were odd, and the oversized pointy hat on top of his head made him look peculiar, that wasn't what made Elena gape. It was the boy's face that left the blonde Turk so intrigued. It was completely black, void of any features whatsoever. And his eyes… they glowed with such an intense golden yellow color. _Whoa,_ she thought, _Mako doesn't make eyes glow like that!_

"Hey, Puck!" the boy said in a rather quiet voice, "wait for me!"

In his rush to catch up with his friend, the boy with the glowing eyes tripped and fell in the middle of the road. Puck, the rat-child, had continued on his way. Soon, Puck was out of sight, lost in the crowd, and the strange looking boy was left behind.

"Are you okay?" the Turk asked the boy hesitantly. _He may look strange, but he's only a child. Right?_

She cautiously moved forward to help the little boy to his feet. Behind her, Rude watched with curious eyes.

"T-thank you," the boy choked out.

"You're welcome," Elena smiled, trying to be nice, "Was that your friend?" she asked looking in the direction that the rat-child went.

The boy nodded, "Uh-huh. His name's Puck. He's the prince of Bermecia."

"Oh, really?" she asked incredulously, "Are you someone important too?"

The boy shook his head vigorously, "No way!" he said with amusement, then his mood changed completely. The boy hung his head. "I'm just a black ma"—he paused in mid-sentence, and changed what he was saying—"Er, I'm just Vivi."

"Well, Vivi," Elena said, not noticing the boy's distraught look, "My name is Elena, and this is my friend Rude." She pointed to the bald Turk behind her.

Rude nodded in greeting to the boy and then asked, "Would you mind telling us where we are?"

Vivi nodded. "You're in the Business District," he responded simply.

"Where?" Elena asked immediately, "What town? What continent?"

"Um, um…" Vivi looked at the two ShinRa employees oddly for a moment before answering. "Lindblum, on the Mist Continent."

The two Turks exchanged concerned glances with each other before Rude spoke up. 

"We're… not from around here," he said feebly, "Could you tell us a little more about Lindblum? About this 'Mist Continent'?"

"Um," the boy responded, "I guess so. I guess I could take you to Regent Cid too, if you want."

"Regent?" Elena asked exuberantly. Maybe, just maybe, they would get some answers to the many questions they had about this place. 

"Yes," she replied to the confused boy, "that would be perfect."

^_^_^_^_^

Raijin stood staring at the rather morose-looking man with contempt. Fujin stood beside him looking equally upset, if not more so.

"SEIFER. WHERE?" the girl asked in her usual curtness, antipathy soaking the words.

"Yeah, you know?" Raijin backed his posse up rather dumbly.

"No, I _don't_ know," the man replied in a barely audible voice. Raijin could detect a hint of annoyance coming from the man. He could understand why, of course. He and Fujin had asked him that same question for the umpteenth time.

Fujin looked around the dark, creepy foyer of the mansion they were now standing in. "SPOOKY," she said, "LET'S GO."

Raijin had to agree with her. The more he stood in the sordid place, the more it displeased him. It was as if he was interfering in something that should be left untouched. He felt deep inside of him, that this mansion was haunted. Not by an apparition, but by many unpleasant memories of the past.

"Yeah," he said to his posse, "let's get the hell out of here." Following Fujin out the front door, he stopped and paused to think. After a moment he turned around to face the morose man.

"Er, where are we?" he asked the man. 

"Nibelheim"

"…and that is where?"

"In the Nibel Mountains," the man replied insipidly, as if he'd rather be doing something else.

"Um… Nibel Mountains?" a perplexed Raijin asked, "I've never heard of them before. Do you know how far Fisherman's Horizon is from here? That's where we last saw Seifer."

"No," the man replied apathetically, "The nearest town is Rocket Town, on the other side of the mountains. Cosmo Canyon is to the south. I've never heard of Fisherman's Horizon."

"NO?" Fujin asked in a disappointed voice. She glanced around at her surroundings. It was getting dark. The sun was a fiery red ball in the west horizon, painting the sky above in orange and yellow hues. To the east, the sky was already a hazy twilight, the stars twinkling brilliantly in front of a violet heaven.

"Uh…do you know if there's an inn anywhere around here?" Raijin asked uneasily. The man before him made him nervous, the way his cold crimson eyes would stare at him. "It's getting dark, you know?"

"There's an inn at the entrance to the village," the dark man replied tersely, expecting them to leave immediately.

Instead, Raijin reached into his pocket and retrieved a wad of gil. He looked at it dubiously. "Do you think ten gil would be enough to get a room?"

Ten gil was certainly not enough to rent a room for the night, but that's not what the other man noticed when he stared at Raijin's stash. "That's not gil," he stated factually.

"Hm?" Raijin asked curiously.

"That's not gil," the man repeated, "look." He dug into his own pocket and produced some of his own gil. "The inn won't take your kind of money."

"BORROW?" the female Disciplinary Committee member asked hesitantly.

"I'm sorry," the dark man said, "But this is all I've got with me." He examined the money for a moment as if he were counting it. "Seventy five gil."

"Oh…" Raijin's mood darkened to an extent, and he anxiously looked around the small village for anyplace he could spend the night. After failing to see any other viable alternative, he had only one option left.

"Do you mind if we stay the night?" he asked timidly, trying not to think of how frightening spending a night in that mansion would be.

"Yes," the man said coldly, "I do mind."

"Er, well, can we stay anyways?" 

Raijin could feel the look of displeasure Fujin gave him. "RUDE," she said under her breath.

The dark man sighed, giving in to the two travelers' exhorting. "I suppose so." 

"THANK YOU." Fujin said.

"Yeah," Raijin agreed. "By the way, I'm Raijin," he pointed in his posse's direction, "and this is Fujin."

"Vincent," the man said monotonously and walked back into the mansion, not waiting to see if the two would follow.

As soon as Vincent was out of sight, Fujin immediately kicked Raijin in the shin. "RAGE!" she screamed.

"Ow, you know?" Raijin said as he hopped on his uninjured foot until the pain subsided enough. He bent over to rub the sore spot where a nasty looking bruise was sure to be in the morning.

Fujin stared uneasily at the front of the dilapidated mansion. The "ShinRa Mansion" was what Vincent had called it. She didn't know what the title meant, but it didn't sound very pleasant to her at all. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself for the long unpleasant night that was sure to take place, and followed Vincent through the door and back into the foyer.

^_^_^_^_^

He was there and she was reaching out to him, but he kept on getting farther away. He was slipping out of her mind now.

_ _

_He was now in another time, another place. And she was lost. Lost in the maelstrom of a thousand universes. _

_ _

_But he was still there, reaching out to her. _

_ _

_And she saw an explosion of faces. People of all different ages and races, who were trapped in a conundrum without an end. People lost in forever, like he was. _

_ _

_But out of all the worried and lost faces swarming around her, only one had bothered her. This face had upset her beyond words, and had haunted her in her nightmares. No matter how hard she tried to hide from it, it was still there. And it loathed her._

_ _

_And this face was taking him away, slipping him though a thousand and one realities. _

_ _

_And then he was gone…_

_ _

_And she was alone…_

_ _

"Squall!" Rinoa screamed, "Oh my God, Squall…"

She broke down into uncontrollable tears, and hoped beyond all hope that her dreams were false, and that Squall might be safe somewhere. _But how could he possibly be safe, _she thought, _the dreams are so_ real.

Before her thoughts could make her feel any worse, she reprimand herself. _Don't act like this, Rinoa!_

She decided that the best way to temporarily forget the horrid nightmare was to go to the cafeteria. There was always someone there to talk to.

She looked around the almost abandoned space, looking for anyone she knew. It was late at night, and hardly anyone at all was there. She spotted Zell at a nearby table, eating the delicious hot dogs he was so fond of.

Sighing, Rinoa pulled up a chair and sat down next to the SeeD. Before she could talk, he spoke out.

"Hey, Rinoa," he said cheerfully, "What's up?"

Rinoa did not return his cheerful greeting. Instead she sat numbly in the chair, eyes red from crying.

"Yo, what's wrong?" Zell asked, taking in Rinoa's disheveled appearance.

"I had another dream," she replied monotonously.

Zell's expression shifted from cheerful to concerned, a frown growing on his face. "Just now? Isn't this, like, the fourth one already?" he asked.

The sorceress nodded her head absently, only half paying attention to his words. "God, Zell," she choked out with tears in her eyes, "it seemed so _real_."

Zell couldn't think of an adequate response, and Rinoa spoke no more of the nightmare. Both sat in an uneasy silence for a while, contemplating each other's words, when finally Zell spoke.

"Rinoa," he said slowly in a quiet voice, "I'm going after him."

The sorceress was startled upon hearing his ambiguous answer. "What?"

"I'm going to find Squall," he said, more confident this time.

Rinoa, finally understanding the meaning of Zell's words, shook her head vigorously. "No, Zell! You can't."

"Why not, Rinoa? I'm only trying to help."

"I know," she explained, "but there's already a significant number of SeeDs looking for him, and so far there's been no trace of Squall." The tears flowed freely from her eyes now, "And, Zell, I don't think he's here."

"Well, I know he's not here," the SeeD said, not understanding the meaning of the sorceress's words, "That's why I'm going to go look for him."

"Zell," she argued, "you don't understand. He's not here, Zell. He's not _anywhere_. I know that if you look for him, you won't find him. And I'm afraid of what might happen to you if you do."

"Rinoa?" he asked in a concerned voice.

"Zell, if you look hard enough for answers, you'll be able to find them. That's what I fear. What if the same thing happens to you? You might be able to find Squall, but it may all be in vain."

"I don't know what happened to him," Zell said hesitantly, trying to make sense of the girl's words, "but I'm sure I'll find him and bring him back to you. And I'll be okay, too. Trust me, Rinoa."

She did trust him, but every time she closed her eyes she saw that hideous face. And no matter how many times she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew it would find Zell if he were to look for Squall.

"I trust you," she quietly surrendered, dreading she would never see either SeeD again.

^_^_^_^

As soon as he had Rinoa's consent, he set off towards the nearest town, Balamb. It seemed as if nothing would be able to stop him. He felt that he had to do it, not for himself, but for everyone else. He couldn't stand to see Rinoa look so distraught, and the others were doing no better. Poor Quistis was hysterical when she found out that her leader was missing… and it took a lot for the instructor to lose her composure.

The skies, filled with ominous dark clouds, opened up. A heavy rain began to fall on the weary traveler, soaking him in an instant.

"Fuck!" Zell cursed, punching the air around him. He was just as upset as anyone else, and the rain wasn't helping much.

Along the road to Balamb, he noticed someone walking in the opposite direction. His long black hair was tied in a messy ponytail, water dripping from the loose strands of hair. A pair of round glasses sat on his nose and he also wore a white lab coat, indicating that he was a scientist or a doctor of some sorts. He looked just as soaked as Zell did, but the man didn't seem to mind.

"Hey," Zell called out to the man when he was close enough to hear over the rain. The man stopped and looked at Zell insidiously. The stare made the SeeD uncomfortable.

"Have you seen a man named Squall Leonhart?" he asked the man.

The man in the lab coat smirked, "Is he a boy about your age? Does he have brown hair? Does he wear a jacket with a fur collar and carry a gunblade?"

"Yeah!" Zell replied exuberantly, his mood brightening, "You mean you've seen him?"

The older man looked at him disdainfully. "Of course I've seen him!" He then resumed his trek along the road leading out of Balamb. 

"Hey," Zell called, following the man, "Do you know where he's at?"

"Yes," the man replied without looking at the SeeD, "I do."

"Really?" the SeeD asked ecstatically, "Can you tell me where he's at?"

"The Squaresoft Building," the man said simply.

The way the man glared at him sent chills down Zell's spine. He didn't have any idea what the creepy man was talking about, but he knew about Squall, and that's the only reason why he was still talking to the man.

"Can I see him?" Zell asked.

The smirk grew even wider. "Of course you can," the man in the lab coat said cryptically, "But I want you to give him and everyone else there a message."

"What message?" the SeeD asked incredulously, an ominous feeling creeping into the back of his mind.

"Tell them that Sephiroth lives."

Before Zell had time to comprehend the meaning of the words, a bright light consumed him, blocking out all conscious thought. 

And then there was only darkness.

^_^_^_^

In the depths of a deep nightmarish sleep Rinoa screamed.

End Ch. 5 at 03.19.01.

Damn, sorry it took me forever to upload. It took me a LONG time to write this chapter. I wrote it everywhere: at school, at work, at home. I spent a lot of time on it, too, writing in a notebook (and stopping occasionally to draw feathers in the margins), typing on a Sunday night at 4 in the morning while eating a blueberry flavored candy cane leftover from Christmas, and finally skipping school on Monday to finish this lovely chapter. Whew, but it was worth it. Look for the next chapter within a few weeks. –Emerald Eyes

spookyfox1@hotmail.com


	6. Stranger than Fiction

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

This is chapter six. Thank you soooo much for writing reviews, people. It means a lot to me. Anyhow, yes, I put an infamous FF7 cliché in my fic: (insert scary music here) SEPHIROTH RETURNS!!! But… I give myself some credit for making the story so interesting. And in this chapter, things start to come together… er, at least a little bit. I own the story but not Final Fantasy. In fact, _no one_ owns Final Fantasy… according to my fic the characters own themselves! ^o^

"Life is the crummiest book I ever read. There isn't a hook, just a lot of cheap shots, pictures to shock, and characters an amateur would never dream up… sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!" –Bad Religion

# Chapter Six: Stranger Than Fiction

"Do you get high?"

"No."

"Pop pills?"

"No."

"You drink?"

"Not recently, no."

"Then how the hell did you come up with a story like that?!"

Alex shrugged. "It's not a story," he said in response to Reno's question, "It's the truth."

Squall looked at the man incredulously. "We're all characters from a video game?"

"Yeah," Alex replied gauchely.

Seifer, who had awakened a short time ago, had his hand up to his head nursing a growing headache. The blonde teenager became increasingly agitated with every word that Alex spoke. "You could at least come up with something believable. You're giving me a fucking headache. I'd rather be having a conversation with Chicken-wuss than be sitting here listening to you."

As if on cue, a bright flash of light filled the room. Seifer shielded his eyes, along with everyone else. When he opened them, he discovered that there was now one more person involved in their perplexing problem…and it was Zell.

"Great Hyne!" Seifer exclaimed, "You _do_ loathe me, don't you?"

Squall stood staring at his companion that had inexplicably appeared in the center of the room.

"Zell?" he asked in shock.

"Huh?" the confused SeeD asked, looking around for the source of the voice. Upon spotting Squall the exuberant martial artist exclaimed, "Squall! Holy hell! I can't believe I've found you! The weird guy wasn't lying when said he knew where you were."

"'Weird guy?'" asked Eiko curiously, staring accusingly at Alex. "Was that _you_?"

"No," Alex defended, throwing a puzzled look towards Zell, "I didn't bring either Zell _or_ Rufus here."

"Then who _did_!?" a frustrated Seifer asked.

"A weird guy in a lab coat did," Zell answered rather vaguely, "He told me to tell you that 'Sephiroth lives.'"

Rufus and Reno exchanged worried glances with each other.

"That can only be Hojo," Rufus sighed, "I just don't know how he could still be alive. That's strange. I thought Avalanche killed him off…"

"Why is it so strange that he's still alive?" Squall asked, "Aren't you supposed to be dead, too?"

"Yeah," the president replied absently. He seemed to lose himself in thought.

"Who is this 'Sephiroth' person?" Seifer asked, wondering what kind of person could make the two ShinRa employees so upset.

"He used to be a general in the Army before disappeared around five years ago," Rufus explained, "About six months ago he reappeared, crazed and filled with delusions. Convincing himself that he was an Ancient, he had a vendetta against everyone on the planet, and only listened to Jenova."

"Jenova?" Seifer asked, "Ancient? What's that?"

"The Ancients are the people who lived on the planet before humans did," Reno explained, "and Jenova's an alien."

"Oh," the teenager replied with celerity. He didn't quite understand, but he wasn't in the mood to press the Turk for questions at the moment, "So tell me what this Sephiroth did."

"He used something called the 'Black Materia' to summon a meteor," the president explained, "Sephiroth has unimaginable power. We tried everything and nothing could destroy it. From what Reno told me, Meteor almost collided with the planet."

"He almost destroyed the planet!?" Zell asked in horrified awe. The rest of the group was thinking the exact same thing. After several minutes of dead silence, people brooding over the facts just given to them, Reno spoke.

"Wait a minute," he asked Alex, "How did Hojo end up having one of your dimension-warp things?"

Alex looked at Reno for a moment before a dumbfounded look crept its way onto his face. "One day I received a package in the mail," he solemnly explained, "It didn't have a return address, so I couldn't tell whom it was from. This device was inside the box.

"I didn't know what it was at first," he continued, a smile creeping onto his face, "I just started randomly pushing buttons… and I found myself stranded in Junon for a week. The whole time I was there I had to listen to the majority of the ShinRa Army practice for Rufus's dumb welcoming parade."

Rufus glared at the dark-haired man maliciously but Alex didn't seem to notice. The blonde then noticed that Seifer was staring at him strangely.

"'ShinRa Army?!' I thought you were just president of some electric company!" he exclaimed, staring at the man in awe.

Rufus smiled, "Well, yes. I'm that too." The youth's surprise at discovering the extent of his power amused him.

"You were in Junon?!" Reno asked anxiously. Now that he thought about it, he _did_ remember seeing someone who looked distinctly like Alex. It was while Elena, Tseng, and him were at one of Junon's many dilapidated diners assuring themselves that they could afford to slack a little on the job. And even thought they were on duty at the time, Rude had still headed for the harbor's bar located in a back alley. It was one of the rare days that Reno had refused to get drunk. During that time, Elena had yelled at a soldier that was slacking while on duty. The irony. "Hmmm… I remember you now. You were the weird guy that was staring at us and laughing while we were talking to that one soldier."

"That one soldier was Cloud Strife," Alex corrected with wry amusement.

The redhead's jaw dropped and he shook his head furiously. Alex only nodded back to confirm that what he said was, in fact, true. Reno then replied derisorily in a quiet voice, "No wonder why you laughed."

Alex, who patiently waited for the fiasco to end, continued his story. "It felt like a dream at first. After all, it was kind of hard to believe I was in a video game. Eventually I began to understand exactly what the device was capable of. After a while I realized that everyone in these other places, these 'other realities,' were all living in a false world. I figured they didn't deserve that. So now you're here, in the real world, and now I think I finally know who sent me that package."

"It was Hojo, wasn't it?" Squall asked, "He's the one who invented it, isn't he?"

Alex nodded.

Eiko frowned at the dark-haired man. "But wait a minute! What makes you think we're just… er, what was the word?" she asked, searching her memory for the unfamiliar term.

"Video game character," Squall filled in flatly.

"Yeah!" Eiko confirmed, "How do you know that that's exactly what we are!? You think that we don't exist or something! But we _do_! You've been to where we come from and you _know it's real_!"

"The girl's got a point," Reno added, "If Hojo was the one who sent you that dimension-warp thing, then he's probably been here."

"And if he's been here," Rufus added, catching on, "then that's probably how the whole Meteor incident somehow got made into a video game."

"Exactly!" Reno continued, "There's tons of stuff out there about Meteor. People have been interviewing Avalanche on talk shows, and writing books about saving the planet form Sephiroth. So he could have sold one of those books to a video game company. He could have traveled to Eiko's world or to Squall's world, and could have done the same thing there." 

"And that's exactly how all of us got tangled up in this debacle," Rufus concluded.

"Hmm," Alex mused, "I never thought about it that way before. I've known all of you from a video game, and when I saw Junon that's exactly what I thought it was. The possibility that these other dimensions might actually exist didn't even occur to me until now."

"Hey, how about that," Seifer said surly, "The little bastard's finally figured it out!"

Everyone ignored the knight's caustic remark.

"So can we go home now?" Eiko asked hopefully.

The group sat in an uneasy silence for several minutes before Rufus finally spoke what no one else wanted to say, "Sephiroth's still out there, and if Hojo can transport him to any one of these dimensions…

"…then he could be anywhere," Squall finished, "including here."

"That would be a disaster," Alex said, "My world doesn't have magic, and Sephiroth has an advantage. The people here have no idea what he's capable of."

"We have to figure out what Hojo has planned, and we have to do it quickly," the president stated, "Sephiroth once broke into ShinRa headquarters, arguably the most guarded building on the planet, and killed a significant number of my men. He's a _very_ dangerous man, and with Professor Hojo influencing him he's even more dangerous."

"What are you suggesting?" the leader of Balamb Garden asked.

"I think we should split up," Rufus continued, "We should keep an eye on every dimension until Sephiroth is defeated."

"I agree," Alex said, "Don't forget that we still have four people missing: Elena and Rude from Rufus's world, and Raijin and Fujin from Squall's. We have to find them. We're going to split into groups.

"Eiko," he said, addressing the young girl, "I want you to go back to Lindblum. It's a big city and they pretty much know what's going on around the world there." He then turned to the rest of the group, "Zell and Squall, I want you two to go back to Balamb Garden. Prepare your troops for a battle with Sephiroth."

He turned to the sorceress's knight, "Seifer, I don't want you going back with Squall. I don't want to imagine what kind of disaster that would cause. You're coming with Rufus and I."

"And where are we going?" Seifer asked.

"Nibelheim," Alex answered curtly.

The knight still looked ambiguous, but Rufus understood, "Of course!" he exclaimed, "The mansion! If Hojo kept any records on his experiments with this incident, then it would be held in the basement library!"

"Exactly," the dark-haired man confirmed, "Now I need someone to stay here…" He looked around the room, eyes falling on Reno and realizing that he was the only one left.

"Reno, you're going to stay," the man said with reluctance, "You can't stay in this building, though. I'm going to have to let you stay in my apartment."

The Turk hadn't been paying attention, and when he heard his name his head perked up and looked around the room in confusion. It took several minutes for him to realize what the man had said.

"All right," Alex said, "Remember, Sephiroth could be _anywhere_, so stay alert!"

"Wait a minute!" Squall said, "How are we going to inform each other if we discover Sephiroth?"

"I'll call you on my cellular phone," Alex explained, "I've found a way to use the dimension-switching device to make phone calls from the other dimension. The only thing I need is the number."

Eiko frowned, "But I don't have one of these 'phones.' What am I supposed to do?"

Reno hesitated a moment before reaching into his pocket and retrieving his PHS. "I guess I won't be needing this anymore." He handed the phone to Eiko and told Alex the number. The other groups followed until the man had everyone's number written down.

Alex pulled the dimension-warp device out of his coat pocket. He looked around at the group of people. "Is everyone ready?" The majority of the people nodded their heads. Zell did not. Instead he spoke.

"Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on!?"

The SeeD had been quiet all through the debate, and almost everybody had forgotten he was even there. No one had filled him in on what was happening.

"I'll explain it all when we get there," Squall promised.

Alex pushed several buttons on the device and Eiko disappeared within a bright flash of light. He repeated the process several times until everyone was gone except for Reno, Rufus, Seifer, and himself.

"All right," he told the Turk, "You have a _very_ important job. I want you to watch the news everyday and read the newspapers frequently, so if Sephiroth shows up, you'll know it. Don't answer the phone unless it's me. I don't want you leaving my apartment too often, and if you do, don't carry any weapons. That's not the way things work here. And last but not least, _do not_ trash my apartment."

Reno nodded, trying to soak in all the information before he got transported away. 

Before long, everyone had gone their separate ways, hoping to save not only one planet, but several.

End Ch. 6 at 04.09.01.

Okay! Sorry it's so short and it took me forever. I thought this chapter was kind of dull. I wanted to add more, but I figured it would make the chapter a gazillion pages long and it would _never_ get posted. Anyhow, I can't even remember all of the people I'm putting in this story! It has more characters than Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series! And I was depressed for a week after I went back to that diner in Junon (where the Turks were) later in the game and the guy said that Diamond Weapon killed all of his regular customers! I convinced myself that the Turks _weren't_ regular customers and that they were somehow still alive.

Anywho, E-Mail me, spookyfox1@hotmail.com and I hope I didn't make you commit suicide because you learned the Turks were dead. (That's okay, I'm in denial. Denial is a happy thing. They're all alive!) –Emerald Eyes


	7. Reunion

"Transcending Reality" 

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

Okay. Finally things are going to fall into place. People are going to meet people and questions will be answered and the story will gain a plotline… AND THIS CHAPTER IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE! Read. Review. Enjoy. And I thank everyone who wrote a review. Your kindness is much appreciated. I actually owned Final Fantasy at one point but Rufus Shinra held me at gunpoint and made me sell it to him so he could make lots and lots of money, so don't sue me! Sue _him_!(sorry, Rufie!) O_o

"Soon the night will take me and save me from my pain. Cloak me in cold darkness and help me lose your name…" –Stabbing Westward (and since the quote reminds me so much of Vinny, I decided to take this next chapter back to the ShinRa Mansion…)

Chapter Seven: Reunion

It was cold, it was dark, and it was almost dawn.

The only light in the room was the miniscule flame emanating from a small candle, shedding its pale golden light among the myriad of books scattered carelessly on top of the old wooden desk.

Alone in this unperturbed darkness of the mansion's basement was Vincent Valentine. His crimson eyes assiduously scanned the pages of the book before him. He was searching. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he would know what it was when he found it. Day after day, night after night, he would keep on searching. He needed to know what Hojo did to him… what he did to her. Lucrecia was the reason he kept himself locked up in the basement.

He mechanically leafed through the aged paper, trying to make sense of Hojo's illegible handwriting. Skimming past various entries dated over thirty years ago, and stumbling upon more recent ones, he came across names. Some of whom he recognized, some who he did not. But none of them were the name he wanted.

Setting the volume aside, he stood up from the old rusty chair to look at the vast collection of books on the metal shelves before him. He randomly picked out an old tome, noticing the thick layer of dust accumulated on top. A row of letters could barely be seen underneath all the grime.

Curious, Vincent imprudently blew the filth off the book. He tried to stifle a cough as dirty clouds of dust filled the room. Not wanting to repeat the mistake, he wiped the rest off with his hand.

As his palm left the book he took in the cryptic title with interest. _The Ethereal Project_, the words spelled out in bold capital letters.

Sitting back down in the chair he opened the book and began to skim the pages. Unlike the other journals he had read, this one piqued his interest. Yes, it wasn't too unlike the other ones, with its half-illegible sentences scribbled in haste. But it wasn't the words that made him so inquisitive, it was the meaning of what they said.

He thoroughly read the scribbles, losing all meaning of time and his original quest. _What's written in this book can't possibly be accomplished, can it?_ He thought skeptically, _What Hojo's written suggests that he's found a way to travel through time or to another dimension…_

_ _

^_^_^_^

"All right," Alex said as he stepped up to the door of the ShinRa Mansion, "No one lives here so we don't have to worry about an excuse to raid the basement."

His two companions, one native to the planet and one not, watched passively as he picked the lock on the front door.

A click was heard, signifying that he had succeeded. He pulled a flashlight out of his jacket pocket and turned it on, illuminating the waning darkness. He pushed open the door and disappeared into the interior of the old house, Rufus Shinra and Seifer Almasy following close behind.

^_^_^_^

_There it is again!_ She thought, _it sounds like footsteps._

It was not the first sound that Fujin had heard all night. She tried convincing herself that it was all just her imagination, but this time it definitely was _not_. 

Lying completely still in her bed, holding her breath, fearing that the slightest sound would attract whatever was making the noise, she attentively listened for the noise again. The attempt was rather futile thought, being that Raijin was snoring lightly in the bed beside hers. But as she heard the footsteps she was almost positive it wasn't Vincent. The man had a way of sneaking up on people when they lease expected it. Someone else was in the house.

Getting up, she reached for her shuriken that gleamed softly in the moonlight. Trying not to let fear get the best of her, she cautiously peeked around the side of the doorframe. Nothing but darkness greeted her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she deftly maneuvered her way down the hallway. Finally away from her posse's snoring, she confirmed the footsteps and thought she also heard voices. Reaching the end of the hallway and coming to the foyer, she waited behind the bend, gathering courage before she faced the unknown around the corner.

Fujin rounded the corner with celerity… and ran straight into someone else!

She screamed and the man before her let out a surprised gasp. She brought her shuriken down on the man, who barely ducked in time to avoid the attack.

"Shit, Lady! You almost killed me!" the man said, staring wide-eyed at the silver-haired girl. Fujin returned the look with an equal amount of fear in her eyes.

"S-sorry," she managed to choke out. She couldn't see much of the man before her, but the minor details stood out. He had blonde hair that was combed back neatly and his posh white suit made him look like someone of great importance.

The blonde composed himself as Fujin let the shuriken drop to her side. It seemed as if he was about to speak, but instead another voice called from below.

"Rufus?" the voice asked, "You okay?"

"Yo, Shinra!" a second voice called, "What the hell happened?"

Fujin paused. The first voice she did not recognize, but the second voice… 

"SEIFER!?" she asked hopefully to the darkness.

There was a moment of silence before the voice answered, "Fujin?"

Smiling, she broke into a run, almost knocking the man before her off his feet. Sprinting towards the source of the voice, she called out again, "SEIFER!!!"

She rushed forward, embracing the knight. Seifer laughed as he hugged his friend back.

"Damn, Fuj, what are you doing _here_?" the perplexed teenager asked.

"BRIGHT LIGHT," the girl explained, "WOKE UP HERE."

"What's going on, you know?"

The two members of the Disciplinary Committee turned their heads to stare up at the owner of the voice.

"Raijin!?" the knight asked, "You're here too?"

Raijin's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared back at the blonde. "Holy shit! It's Seifer!"

Soon Raijin was at the bottom of the stairway and had carried out a greeting similar to Fujin's.

"Seifer, who are these people?" the man Fujin had collided with asked as he walked down the steps to meet the other four in the foyer. The three Disciplinary Committee members had been so caught up in themselves that they had forgotten the other two men standing in the room with them.

"Rufus Shinra, meet my posse: Fujin and Raijin."

They exchanged greetings and a few questions were asked before the inevitable came up in the conversation.

"What happened to you, Seifer? I really want to know where we are and how you got here, too," Raijin asked.

"YES. EXPLAIN."

^_^_^_^_^

And so he did explain, with the help of Alex, who filled in on the more elaborate parts of the story.

On the other hand, Rufus Shinra sat on the steps and quietly thought about the events that had happened over the past several days. It seemed like only yesterday he was giving orders and was head of a company that was renowned worldwide. And to him, it _was_ only yesterday! But as he was walking through the quiet alpine village, he noticed something: the absence of mako power.

_It really has been several months, hasn't it?_ He wasn't naïve. He saw how Alex was looking around town, keeping a lookout. Not many people were around at five o'clock in the morning, but he made sure to steer clear of those who were. He quickened his pace every time someone came near, not risking the chance for someone to see and recognize the former president of ShinRa. Of course, the darkness helped obscure his identity, but the man in the trench coat didn't take any chances. _Who am I now that I'm supposed to be dead?_

Hearing his name come up in the conversation, the president was lured out of his morbid thoughts.

"…I don't know, Raijin!" Seifer's irritated voice reprimanded, "Why are you asking _me_! I just know that he's some military dude that tried to kill the planet! Why don't you ask Alex… or Shinra over there!" He pointed a finger in the general direction of the steps.

"Huh?" the older blonde asked dumbly.

"Sephiroth?" Seifer answered.

"Oh," the blonde started, "He was a first class member of an elite military force called SOLDIER…"

And so the president tried to explain what everybody that lived on his planet already knew, delving into a significant part of ShinRa's past, and how the feared General helped the company win many battles during the war with Wutai. He explained how his actions in war made him one of the most famous SOLDIERs of all time… and then explained what drove the man to insanity, and what caused him to summon Meteor.

All members of the unlikely party listened attentively to his story as they climbed down the rotted, winding staircase that led to the secret lab in the basement. The three from Balamb Garden were surprised to find a passageway hidden in the stone wall in the bedroom adjacent to the one the two Disciplinary Committee members were sharing.

Seifer Almasy led the way despite his unfamiliarity with the place, gripping the flashlight with one hand and his gunblade in the other. The miniscule light desperately tried to burn away the dust and darkness with its powerful beam. The irascible knight was becoming increasingly agitated with the creepy air to the place, and interrupted the president's story insolently.

"Hey Shinra!" he complained, "You own this place, right? So why don't _you_ lead the way?"

"Yes, I do own it," the man replied matter-of-factly, "but I've never actually _been_ in it before today."

"So why am _I_ the one in the lead?!" he argued back.

"Because," Alex responded from the depths of the darkness, becoming annoyed as one of the myriad cobwebs flew into his face. "You're the one who went down the stairs first."

Sighing in consent, the gunblade specialist returned to following the wooden spiral steps, avoiding the broken and more rotted pieces. Finally reaching the bottom of the hole, he ventured into a cavernous tunnel that was off to the side as he silently wondered if the darkness would ever end. 

He stepped forward into the gaping entrance that led to the laboratory beyond. However, he did not get far. Somewhere in the depths of the darkness around him the familiar "click" of a gun being cocked could be heard.

"Don't move," a dark voice ordered from the shadows.

Seifer froze solid, awaiting further instructions from the gunman hidden beyond his sight.

"Discard your weapon," the voice ordered again.

Almasy hesitantly dropped Hyperion on the dirty floor beside him, the others following Seifer's example with their own weapons. The gunman released himself from his sanctuary in the shadows. Seifer gaped at the man that held him at gunpoint: Raven hair carelessly fell onto his extremely pale countenance despite the red bandana that tried so desperately to hold it back. The dark gunman was dressed completely in black, from the long trench coat that covered his body to the combat boots that covered his feet. A rather disturbing feature of the man was the metal claw that ominously made its presence known from the left sleeve of the gunman's coat. But even more disturbing than that were the deep crimson eyes that beheld a deep hatred to the world.

"VINCENT?!" Fujin asked wildly, staring openly at the gunman.

"You _know_ him?!" Seifer spat out surly.

"Yeah," Raijin explained, "He's the guy that lives here, you know?"

"He _lives_ here?" a surprised Alex asked. Vincent wasn't in the familiar attire Alex knew from the game, but he was definitely staring at the same ex-Turk. But he didn't think the man actually _lived_ in the place.

"Why didn't you warn us about this?" Seifer asked the dark-skinned man.

"I forgot, you know?" the man answered back dumbly.

Vincent carefully locked eyes with the people before him, his gaze lingering on Rufus.

"I thought you were dead," he scrutinized the blonde suspiciously, his weapon now pointed to Rufus instead of Seifer. 

Rufus merely shrugged, "So did I, Mr. Valentine."

The ex-Turk seemed unperturbed by the president's cryptic answer. "Why are you here?" he then asked stoically.

"Because I'm not the only one that has supposedly come back from the dead," the president responded, "As it turns out, a certain professor that used to work for me happens to still be alive. And I'm afraid he might have found a way to revive Sephiroth."

To one that didn't know the dark man very well, the man showed no reaction. But to one who knew what to expect, an extreme change in emotion took place. The crimson fire in the man's eyes seemed to grow at the mention of the dreaded professor. "Hojo!?" Vincent asked heatedly, "I thought Strife killed him off!"

"Yeah, well apparently he's back," Alex responded, "He has some kind of new experiment going on. It has something to do with alternate dimensions. That's why we're here. We're hoping to find some information on it in the library."

Normally Vincent wouldn't believe such a story, but the coincidence it shared with the document he had been reading only moments before created a slight nagging feeling in the back of his mind. "How do you know about Hojo's… 'invention?'"

"Because the Professor guy sent him his 'invention,'" Seifer responded for Alex.

Vincent turned to the other man clad in black, "Is this true?"

"Yeah," Alex said, reaching into his pocket to retrieve the device. Vincent became alarmed and aimed the gun at the unwary man. 

Alex, upon realizing his mistake, explained himself before Vincent would fire. "Whoa! Don't shoot! I'm getting Hojo's invention! I'm not stupid. I wouldn't try to pull a gun on an ex-Turk!"

Vincent was still precautious, but lowered his gun slightly, allowing the man to reveal the device. "This is the device Hojo had invented. In a blink of an eye it can take you to a totally different world, a totally different place. Hojo had sent this one to me about a year ago. I didn't know what it was or what it was even capable of. I'm not from this dimension, Vincent. In fact, the only one that is happens to be Rufus."

Vincent glanced askance at the group of people, dubiously scrutinizing all of them. He threw a baffled look towards Seifer. "You mean you're not…?"

Seifer smiled complacently, satisfied that he had managed to kill the man's apathetic façade. He shook his head. "Nope. I'm not from here at all… in fact, I don't even know where the fuck I am!"

There were several moments of uneasy silence before Rufus finally spoke. "I strongly suggest you let us search the library."

"Yeah," Seifer added, "Hojo somehow used his little experiment to revive this Sephiroth guy."

"He revived Sephiroth!?" the ex-Turk asked frantically.

"I don't think Hojo 'revived' him," Rufus explained, "I think he just saved him before he could die." All eyes turned to stare at the ex-president at the remark. "Think about it. He did the same thing to me. He just transported me out of my office just as the explosion hit the building. He probably wanted to test his new invention before he took a chance using it on Sephiroth. Tell me, did any members of AVALANCHE actually check to see if he was dead before they left him there to rot at the northern crater?"

"There was an explosion…" Alex mused.

"Yes," Vincent agreed, "We barely had time to make it to the Highwind before an energy blast of mako destroyed the place. And because Sephiroth was still alive that might explain why Holy didn't do a good job on destroying Meteor."

"It didn't?" a confused ex-president asked.

"No," Alex said, "the Lifestream was the actual thing that saved the planet."

Vincent lowered his gun slightly and examined the group one last time before leading them into the library. 

Seifer noticed that the man still did not holster his weapon. _He doesn't quite trust us yet._

_ _

The group filed into the room, spreading out to observe the strange equipment scattered about the lab. Seifer noticed a rather ominous looking operating table, stained with aged blood and the assortment of strange looking gadgets, also bloodstained. His eyes fell upon the two glass tanks; taking note of the strange glowing, green residue on the inside. _God, what the hell happened in here!?_

Vincent handed a thick novel-like book to Alex, explaining to him some of the things he had been reading in it before. Alex took the book from the ex-Turk and started to leaf through it, looking for anything that indicated what Hojo had in mind.

The crimson-eyed man, his eyes still warily watching everyone in the room, pulled out a PHS from his coat pocket and dialed a number. There was a pause before the person on the other line spoke.

"Hello?" the voice greeted.

"Strife?" Vincent asked.

"_Vince_? Is that you?" a surprised Cloud asked, "How convenient! I was just about to call everyone. I have to tell you some bad news, though," he continued dejectedly, "I think"—

--"You think Sephiroth may not be dead," Vincent finished.

There was a pause before AVALANCHE leader spoke. "Hey!" he replied confusedly, "How did you know that?"

"There are some people here with me that claim they're involved in the whole thing."

Cloud waited a moment, letting the information sink in. When he finally decided to speak, his answer wasn't all that intelligent. "_Really?_" he asked.

The ex-Turk ignored the spiky-haired man's gratuitous question and told him what he wanted done. "Strife, I want you to call everyone. Tell them about Sephiroth. Get Cid to take everyone to Nibelheim on the Highwind. Meet me at the ShinRa mansion."

"Okay, I'll get right on it!" the leader replied curtly and hung up the phone.

Seifer was fidgeting, the essence of the room making him nervous. So when Alex said he had found something useful, he was grateful for the distraction.

The azure-eyed man read out loud the passage scribbled on the old paper. From what he noticed, the writing looked fairly new. It wasn't dated, but unlike the other ones, the ink wasn't faded at all.

"_I now know for certain that my son will fail at his task on this planet,_" Alex read, "_AVALANCHE had defeated me at the mako cannon in Midgar, thus spoiling my plans. Of course they all thought I had died when the explosion hit the ShinRa building. Those fools! The Jenova in my body won't let me die that easily. _

_ _

_"I have tested the device on the ShinRa President,"_ he read, _"The experiment was a success! It is still unstable, but I believe that I can make the correct modifications to the device to make the calculations more precise. I should be able to get to the Northern Crater in time to stop AVALANCHE from destroying Sephiroth! I know of a perfect little place where he will be able to fulfill his destiny. This planet doesn't have any kind of defense against his superior ability, and the lack of 'magic' makes this place more vulnerable to his actions…"_

_ _

"I have a bad feeling about this," Seifer commented.

"AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin agreed.

Alex reluctantly read the rest of the passage. _"The planet's advanced technology will not hinder my son, and I am convinced that he will easily accomplish his task."_

"That last part didn't sound too good, you know?" Raijin said glumly.

But Alex was lost in his own thoughts… _No magic…?_ _That sounds like…_

"Earth," he whispered, fearing that the insane SOLDIER had already inflicted damage on his home.

End Ch. 7 at 04.22.01.

Okay, I hope I redeemed myself for the last chapter (which I thought was a bit crappy). The story's going to get more exciting soon. So what's going on in the next chapter? Well, we all know who Eiko's gonna meet up with in Lindblum. What will I have happen to them? And what about Squall and co.? Is that gonna be boring…? Heh heh, don't bet on it… remember that the last time we saw Hojo, he was near Balamb Garden…

Be nice and write a review… no flames…

email me: spookyfox1@hotmail.com


	8. Cryptic Answers

"Transcending Reality"

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

_ _

This is chapter eight! Whoa! I can't believe it! Eight chapters is a lot to write in only a couple of months. This chapter focuses on Eiko in Lindblum and the SeeDs in Balamb Garden… where some unexpected guests show up! Thanx for the reviews everyone! It means a lot to me. I do not own Final Fantasy. Laguna does. He wrote the stories when he became President of Esthar because it was a very, _very_ boring job. (translation: I will never ever write a boring disclaimer)

_ _

"I tried hard to mend my wicked ways, acted like a lunatic for years. Lord knows I try to be good. I'd keep my promises if only I could." –Garbage

_ _

Chapter Eight: Cryptic Answers

"Er, so you're trying to say that this guy is really, _really_ bad… like Kuja?"

"Uh…" Alex attempted to answer the girl's gratuitous question, "yeah, he's kind of like Kuja, I guess."

Eiko summarized the information given to her before. "Okay: long silver hair, spooky aquamarine eyes, and a long scary sword. Got it."

"Good," Alex spoke into the PHS, "keep alert. I don't think he'll be there at the moment, but…" a pause "I have a feeling I know where he's at. I'll let you know if I find him."

He was about to end the conversation but Eiko frantically interrupted. "Hey, Alexander! Wait! I have one more question!"

Alex sighed, "What, Eiko?"

"Were you named after the holy eidolon?" the girl asked curiously.

"No, Eiko," the man said irritably, eager for the conversation to end. "How many times do I have to tell you? There aren't any eidolons where I come from."

"Oh," the girl answered simply and disappointedly, "Well, I guess you can go now."

Pressing a button on the PHS and ending the conversation, the girl stored the communication device in her pocket. She boldly stepped up onto the metal elevator and pulled the lever that had "upper level" printed next to it. _Hmmm_, _I wonder what Cid's gonna say when I tell him a story like this._ Soon she reached the top floor and the elevator came to a complete stop.

As soon as the lilac-haired girl stepped out onto the marble floor, Hilda, the Regent's wife, greeted her with open arms.

"Eiko! Oh my, where have you been?"

The girl smiled deviously. "You are _never_ gonna believe what happened to me…"

^_^_^_^

"But I swear to Bahamut, it's the truth!"

As expected, the older woman didn't believe one word of Eiko's outlandish story. "Eiko, if you went somewhere without asking, the least you could do is tell the truth about where you went! Cid and I were looking all over for you!"

The small girl frowned. "But look, ma!" she said, holding the PHS out to Hilda, "Alex gave me this thingy! I can talk to him even though he's somewhere far away."

The Regent's wife stared askance at the young child. "…and what's that? One of Cid's bizarre inventions, is it?"

"No," the girl said neglectfully, shaking her head, "This is Reno's PHS."

A wry smile played upon Hilda's lips, quite amused that the girl could not falter under her irate glare. "Reno, huh?" she inquired, eager to learn what the exuberant child could imagine for her story, "That's an awfully strange name."

"Yeah, you're telling me! They're all pretty weird! And they dress funny too!" the girl complained.

"Oh really? What do they look like? What does Reno look like?"

"Um…" the girl searched her memory, "he's got red hair, like Amarant. But he is _nothing_ like him at all! He wears a pair of dark glasses on his head and he dresses all in dark blue." The girl paused for a moment before an unexpected paroxysm, "And he said my purple hair was weird! The nerve!"

Hilda's ironic smirk changed to a perplexed frown. "'Dark glasses and dressed in dark blue'…?"

"Yep!" Eiko confirmed. She tried to remember the word she had heard in an earlier conversation, what the redhead had called himself. "Er, he said he was a 'Turk,' or something like that. And… he said he had two friends… Rude and Elena!"

Hilda's reaction to the information was what Eiko had least expected. The woman's mouth was agape, golden-brown eyes giving the girl an astonished look.

The girl stared back, equally surprised. "What did I say? Why are you staring at me like that, ma?"

Hilda moved her lips as if to speak, but she remained mute. Instead, she took the lilac-haired girl's hand and led her though a series of doors. They finally stopped when they reached the interior of a large room that Eiko recognized as the Regent's throne room.

Cid did not notice the two enter. He was involved in a heated conversation with two humans. Upon further observation the girl found Vivi sitting on one of the large steps leading up to the throne. His feet carelessly dangled above the red-carpeted floor. He was the first to notice the newcomers.

"Eiko," he exuberantly cried, "You're back!"

The child's overjoyed outburst distracted the Regent, letting him notice the missing child. "Eiko, where have you been?" the old man scolded, "You've been out all night! I've had half the soldiers out looking for you and none of them could find you! It's as if you've disappeared off the face of Gaia!"

"Um, Cid?" the girl asked meekly, "I kind of _did_ disappear off the face of Gaia for a little while."

"What?"

"I…" the girl stopped mid-sentence, staring openly at the two people the Regent had been arguing with. They were both dressed in dark blue, like the redhead from her previous adventure. "Hey!" she suspiciously eyed the two, "Do you guys know Reno?"

Both the male and the female gaped at the lilac-haired girl, wondering how she could have known their insubordinate friend. 

"You mean you've _seen_ him?" the blonde lady asked, "Where's he at? Is he okay?"

Eiko sighed. _Aw… do I have to tell this story_ again_?_ She decided to tell the short version and get to the point. "He's okay. But he might not be for long. You see, lots and lots of crap happened and a lot of people from different dimensions met each other and then this guy said that this other guy, Sephiroth, was alive. The guy said that Sephiroth was kind of like Kuja and Kuja was _real_ mean so I'm guessing that's not good."

The blonde stared dumbly at the girl for a moment, soaking in all the information. Her bald companion expected her reaction, but Eiko was completely surprised by her diatribe.

"Sephiroth is _alive_!?" she screamed, "That can't be possible! That jerkface, Cloud, killed him off, didn't he?" She pressed for an answer when Eiko didn't respond. "Well? Didn't he?"

Eiko meekly nodded, "I—I guess so…"

"If he hurt Reno like he hurt Tseng…!" The blonde trailed off, angry at the cruel news.

"Calm down, Elena," the passive bald Turk scolded, "We don't even know if what she's saying is the truth."

_Oh, Great Bahamut_, Eiko thought, _Why does everyone have to think I'm lying!?_

"If there's a really bad guy like Kuja out there," Vivi cut in from across the room, "I'll help get rid of him…"

Elena's attention was torn from her tirade for a moment to stare incredulously at Vivi. "How can a little boy like you stop Sephiroth?"

"I'm a Black Mage," the boy said simply.

Elena looked completely ambiguous. "Can you run that by me again?"

"I'd think I'd better tell the _full_ version of the story," Eiko cut Vivi off, "for the umpteenth time today."

And this time, instead of her "short version," she told every detail, leaving out nothing. The story took several hours to complete, not one of the people in the room losing interest in the tale.

When it was finished, no one dared to speak. There were too many questions swarming through their heads to just pick one to ask. But no one had time to voice their thoughts anyway…

A loud crash was heard as two Lindblum soldiers stumbled through the door. The one was helping his injured friend walk to the person they sought: Cid.

"Regent," the injured one began laboriously, "Theater district…"

Cid immediately snapped to attention at the soldier's mysterious words. "What!?" he asked frantically, "Tell me! What!?"

"A woman with black magic…" the uninjured soldier continued, struggling to support his companion.

"Hmmm," Cid pondered, "Only the Mages like Vivi can use that kind of power…"

"So?" Elena inquired, "What's so unusual about that? She probably just has a couple of good, mastered materia."

"Uh-uh," Eiko shook her head, "Ain't no materia here."

"Is there a name to go with this mysterious woman?" the Regent asked.

"Uh…" the prone soldier replied, wracking his brain for answers, "Sorceress… Sorceress…"

"Sorceress Ultemecia!" the coherent soldier responded heatedly, "She's causing a catastrophe! I don't know where she comes from, but she's sure powerful!"

"Uh-oh," Eiko paled. She remembered Squall and Seifer talking about a sorceress earlier, and the more she thought about it, the name Ultemecia sounded _real_ familiar. _Oh, no!_ she thought, _not only do we have Sephiroth, but now this sorceress, too!_

She stared in horror at the assembly in the room. It wasn't going to be easy, but they could defeat her, couldn't they?

^_^_^_^

"Where'd she go!?" the girl asked heatedly to the ruins. And ruins they were. Everything was destroyed, not one building left standing. The culprit, however, was gone.

The few survivors gathered around the Regent, telling him tales of the horrible debacle. Cid and Hilda observed the ruined district with a pained expression written on their faces, upset to see their city so fallen. Vivi stood next to Eiko, his terror-filled eyes darting around the catastrophe. The two Turks observed the scenery with what seemed like sagacity, but a worried expression could be detected behind Elena's indifferent façade.

"Oh God," she whispered, "What kind of person would have the mind to do this?" She didn't intend for anyone to hear the comment, but somehow Eiko did. 

"I dunno what kind of person Ultemecia is, but I hope Alex calls before she attacks again."

^_^_^_^

It was still. All was silent, and all was serene. Absolutely nothing stirred. It was so quiet, in fact, that one would be able to hear a pin drop… that is, until a shrill noise interrupted the calm.

The phone rang once… twice… three times. The fourth ring came and then the answering machine message: "Yo, this is Alex. I'm either not in or I don't want to talk to you, so leave a message."

The overly annoying beep sounded signifying the beginning of the message being recorded. "Reno, it's me," a voice responded to his own message, "Pick up the phone." There was a pause, the voice waiting for someone to react to his message. There was no reply. 

"Reno, pick up the phone. It's Alex." Still no answer.

_"Pick up the fucking phone!"_

_ _

But there was no one there to answer the voice's desperate calls.

^_^_^_^

The first thing that registered in his mind when the light subsided was the Balamb planes, the tall grass making a familiar rustling noise in the waning darkness of dawn.

The second thing he noticed was Zell Dincht's unconscious form lying face-first in the grass. He hadn't passed out on his first trip to another dimension: everyone else had. The blonde had, however, been knocked out cold by the trip returning to Balamb Garden. _Maybe Alex's device has some sort of defect that the Professor's doesn't_. Whatever it was, one became immune to it after the first time. Squall didn't even feel the least bit sick the second time through. When Zell had woken up, Squall tried his best to explain the weird adventure that had taken place within the last 24 hours.

The third thing Squall noticed was a chaotic madness that seemed to be an aura around the Balamb area. The air was thick and seemed to play tricks on the eye, causing even the well-trained SeeDs to jump at the shadows. It cast about a slightly unnerving feeling that made one on the verge of panic, almost, but not quite losing sanity. Zell was the first to voice his opinion when he said ever so bluntly "It's creepy here."

At first everything seemed to be lost in a silent vigil, the only sound coming from the strong northern winds. Light slowly fell upon the place, but barely helped to brighten the travelers' moods. Daylight never really reached Balamb. Instead the place was thrown into a false twilight, color washed away by the never-ending gray dullness of the sky. It was not raining at the moment, but judging by the fresh dew on the grass and the soaked pavement of the road, fierce rain had fallen not too long ago.

A heavy mist obscured most of the view, and the disconcerting cacophony of battle could be heard before being seen. The unwelcoming noise gradually replaced the complacent silence. 

Upon their arrival, the two SeeDs discovered that Balamb Garden was thrown into total disorder, SeeDs everywhere rushing forth to defend their home. Horrible monsters mutated beyond recognition flooded the place, attacking anything that moved.

For a moment Squall just stood there, not believing his eyes, but after the initial shock wore off he began to take charge. "You there!" he ordered, grabbing hold of an auburn-haired girl not much older than him, "What's your name?"

"Iraden Dehlvar, sir!" the young woman answered obediently. She shifted her weight to lean tiredly on her lance, soiled with the fresh blood of the remains of a behemoth scattered about the floor.

"Iraden," Squall began hurriedly, "What the hell is going on? Where's Rinoa?"

The woman shook her head, "I don't know!" she said above all the noise, "It just seemed like a normal night and then out of nowhere all these monsters started to attack." She paused, gesticulating wildly at the grisly scene behind her. "No one knows how they all got in here, or even how that many monsters came in here _unnoticed_, but I guess there's no time to think about that now… and Sorceress Rinoa," the girl continued, shaking her head sadly, "I've no idea where she's at."

"Shit!" Squall cursed at the answer he didn't want to hear.

"Yo Squall?" Zell began informatively, "Before I left to find you, I was with Rinoa in the cafeteria."

The auburn-haired SeeD, Iraden, frowned quizzically, "Maybe you should check there?"

With a nod of his head the Commander was off to find the sorceress, Zell following closely behind.

When they had disappeared down the hall the girl sighed, enervated, and allowed a small smile to play across her face. "Welcome back, Commander Leonhart."

^_^_^_^

The swirling mass of crimson light slowly gathered into a sphere, the deadly energy growing stronger. It hovered over her bare hand, and yet did not burn or scar it. Intense heat emanated from the condensed energy, but she felt no pain. She felt nothing. The only thing that existed was the scarlet light. It was all that mattered; everything else blotted out into a blurry nothing. And then the maelstrom, the inclement, angry chaos was set loose.

The intense Firaga spell crashed into another undulating wave of monsters. But however powerful it was, it didn't seem to even scratch the surface of the problem. They still came, and in the middle of the madness he was there. It was the face from the dream, she was sure of it. She could hear him in her mind, laughing. He was there somewhere, a twisted mind amidst the rancor of warped monsters.

It made her paranoid, and soon she found herself searching the heterogeneous mixture of man and monster for the one face that plagued her nightmares. He was the cause of this apocalypse, she was sure of it. He stood out in her mind so clearly; her unfortunate enhanced magic ability allowing her unwillingly to witness the horrible atrocities he had committed in the past. She looked for the white lab coat that graced her nightmares so frequently now. She searched for the greasy, black hair and the large glasses. She knew him more than she wanted to, and now she wanted to meet him face to face, if only to put a stop to this madness.

And sure enough, her search did not prove futile, for she found him. He was just as hideous as she had remembered from the dreams, possibly even more so. And she gasped, gaping at the man she had learned to abhor so much within the last few days.

He turned to stare back at her, mocking her with a complacent smile. "Well, well, well," he laughed acerbically, "Why aren't you that sorceress…? Hmm… let me see. What was her name? Oh, yes. You're Rinoa, right?"

_"What have you done?"_ the sorceress asked evenly, the words soaked with antipathy.

"That's quite a simple question to answer," the man said matter-of-factly, "I am merely trying to prevent you and your companions from quelling my son's destiny to become one with the planet."

The words shouldn't have made sense to Rinoa, but somehow they did. Somewhere deep in the back of her subconscious mind the meaning was clear. It was her uncanny powers as a sorceress that made this possible.

"You're going to destroy the planet?" Rinoa asked in disbelief, not understanding why anyone would want to destroy so much life.

"Oh, no," he replied amusedly, "I'm not going to destroy one planet. I'm going to destroy _several_ planets."

Rinoa stared at the man in shock, completely appalled by his machiavellian nature. Just as she was about to query him further, a familiar SeeD clad in black had spotted her. 

"Rinoa!" Squall called to her in an apprehensive voice.

"Squall?" she asked hopefully, scanning the crowd for the one who had spoken. 

The man in the lab coat turned his head to glare at the SeeD. "Why isn't it Squall Leonhart, leader of Balamb Garden," he said, smiling even wider that before, "I heard you've been on quite an unusual escapade."

Squall was puzzled and suspicious as to how the mysterious man knew his name, and furthermore, how he knew about his little adventure. Fortunately, he didn't have to contemplate the matter for much longer. 

Zell ran up next to Squall. He recognized the man immediately. "Yo, Squall! That's Professor Hojo!"

Squall's eyes went wide. _This_ was professor Hojo? Somehow he expected the man behind the madness to look less frail. He began to muse about how ironic it was. Here was this scrawny little scientist… and he was on the verge of destroying several worlds. _Maybe it's because the man thinks too much… thinking is dangerous._

"You're the man who sent Alex the device, aren't you?" Squall spoke.

Hojo didn't respond, he merely laughed.

"Hey, uh, I got a question," Zell spoke up nervously from behind Squall, "Out of all the people in that other dimension, why did you give the thing to Alex?"

"Hmmm," the man pondered, "that's a good question… a good question, indeed. You see, boy, there's a lot of things you don't know about Alex." He paused, a glint of insane glee shining in his eyes. "In fact, there are a lot of things Alex doesn't know about Alex!" He burst out into uncontrolled maniacal laughter.

None of the SeeDs were thrilled by the scientist's cryptic answer. 

"Listen, asshole!" Zell reprimanded acerbically, "You better come clean with the answers! You're outnumbered three to one! Now tell me one more time: Why Alex?"

"Why Alex?" the professor queried back, "Because he's part of the game, just like you and Squall. Just like the Turks and the former president of ShinRa. Just like the White Mage from Lindblum." He paused to make sure all three spectators were listening attentively. When he was satisfied with the amount of attention he was getting, he continued. "Just like Irvine Kinneas…" 

The man's second answer was just as cryptic as the first, possibly even more so. But this time Zell, nor any other SeeDs, said anything about it. Instead, their minds focused on the last name mentioned: Irvine.

"What the hell did you _do_ to him?!" Zell angrily demanded. The other two, even Rinoa, looked equally aggressive at the mention of Irvine.

The man simply shrugged, as if the answer should have been obvious. "Sephiroth is back. And the only way for him to have the power to become one with the planet is for Jenova to be alive. Jenova has been revived, therefore the Project must continue." He laughed at the disturbed look that was growing on each of their faces. "Don't you think it's amazing how you can recreate an entire being with only a few miniscule cells?"

"Why are you bringing us into this?" Squall asked in between clenched teeth, "It's not our fight."

"Oh, but it _is_ your fight," he announced, suddenly dead serious, "And I'll tell you why: Jenova is _Ultemecia_."

Rinoa gasped. Ultemecia couldn't be back, could she? They had killed her several months ago. She had watched her die. _The sorceress from the future…_ Rinoa thought, _or is she? What if she is from another dimension instead?_

_ _

"Now if you'll excuse me," Hojo said, "I have an experiment to finish." The professor smiled heinously at the hapless SeeDs before a blinding flash of white light enveloped him.

He was gone in another dimension, busying himself with the Jenova Project… and Irvine.

"Oh, Hyne," Rinoa whispered, "This can't be happening."

End Ch. 8 at 05.17.01.

There's the chapter for you! Anywho, speaking of Ultemecia, what do you think of her and Jenova being the same person? Freakish, ain't it? So what kind of secret is Hojo hiding about Alex? What's up with Irvine? Find out soon, but not in the next chapter because the next one features Reno (yay!). O_o Oh yeah! And in the FF9 timeline, this fic takes place after the end where Kuja dies (no shit), but _before_ the part where everyone discovers that Zidane is still alive.

Email me: spookyfox1@hotmail.com

Sorry it took me so long, guys. I was on vacation! ~_~'


	9. Welcome to Earth

Transcending Reality

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

Are you wondering what happened to Reno? Are you _dying_ to know what happened to Reno? Heh heh heh… read on, 'cuz I thoroughly enjoyed creating this chapter. I don't own Final Fantasy (Seifer: "No shit, bitch! You've said that every chapter so far!") {sweatdrop] Uh… yeah… um… but I _do_ however own Alex! (Alex: "Hey! I own myself, thank you very much!") [sweatdrops again] Um… on with the story?

"I'm not respectable, and never sensible, I've been incredible, so damned irascible and I like the things I do so hooray for me… and fuck you!" –Bad Religion (if this quote doesn't remind you of Reno, there's something wrong with you)****

Chapter Nine: Welcome to Earth 

The television changed to a different channel whenever the ending credits for _The X-Files_ flashed on the screen. On the new channel, the iconic opening theme for _Star Wars_ could be heard. 

Reno sat on the couch holding the channel changer in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other. His feet were carelessly propped up on the coffee table in front of him. His suit jacket was callously abandoned, now a rumpled heap on the floor. He reached for the box of leftover takeout food that he had earlier found in the refrigerator. 

He had anticipated exploring this new world, though he had kept it to himself. He had remained indifferent whenever Alex had mentioned he would be staying, but behind that façade he could hardly contain his excitement.

He had spent most of the day wandering aimlessly around the small suburban town outside the apartment. Alex's dimension wasn't anything like he expected it to be. The differences between the two dimensions amazed him, even made him gape in unfeigned wonder at times, but it was the similarities that had interested him the most. He had walked down the street staring at almost-familiar buildings and cars. He had greeted people as they brushed past in a reminiscent, almost nostalgic, kind of way that reminded him of home.It brought a strong sense of irony to his mind every time he thought about it. In fact, it was more like home than he would ever want to admit. 

In spite of what Alex had said about keeping a low profile, Reno had spent the majority of his time conversing with the locals and asking about as many curious questions as one from another dimension could ask. He had also discovered something that had become very important to him in the past day: the 7-Eleven. 

Looking under couch cushions for spare change, and then finally finding Alex's wallet, the Turk had bought numerous amounts of junk food. And even in that aspect, things were still the same: Pepsi tasted like any other cola one could find in Midgar, chocolate chip cookies were still chocolate chip cookies, and popcorn was popcorn no matter where you went. Why, even the food he was eating at the moment reminded him of home. The box the food came in had said it was "Chinese," but to Reno, the food was obviously Wutaiian. 

The only thing he hadn't experimented with was the alcohol, much to his dismay. Upon finding Alex's wallet, he had discovered from his driver's license that he was only 20 years old. That was probably the reason why there wasn't any alcohol in the fridge. _Who would really blame him_, Reno had thought, _The kid's in college. He probably gets all the beer he needs at parties._ So, trying to quench his insatiable need for alcohol he had found a local bar. There was only one problem with that: he was asked to show his identification. Reno had to stop himself from taking out his ShinRa ID card. Focused on the task at hand, he had almost forgotten where he was.

One event led to another, thus leading to the end of the day, where Reno currently had his lazy ass plopped on the couch, watching the television, drinking Pepsi, and eating Chinese food.

He had avoided every single protocol Alex had set for him… that is, all but one. Reno looked at his watch and promptly changed channels again, this time to something more informative about the world. A conservatively dressed woman appeared on the screen shuffling a bunch of papers. "Good evening, this is the ten o'clock news…."

The voice droned on as Reno only half listened. His wandering eyes drifted to the cabinet below the TV. Curiosity overruled a respect for someone else's personal things, and he soon found himself on the worn carpet prying through the various items.

Video tapes, books, CDs, video games… the list went on, most of the items callously forsaken on the floor behind him. But, ironically enough, Reno had stumbled across an item that had captured his fickle interest: the Final Fantasy games. He had to admit, he was _quite_ surprised whenever he pulled out a disc case and found a computer-generated picture of Seifer and Squall on the front. And the disc after that, where he had been astonished to find a very erroneous picture of his archenemy, Cloud Strife.

His eyed the game system underneath the TV forlornly, curious as to how accurate Final Fantasy VII really was. Smiling mischievously, he popped the lid on the console, and inserted the disc.

The ten o'clock news was abandoned in a heartbeat.

^_^_^_^

"I'm leaving," he said impassively, trying to ignore Tifa's constant reprimands. 

"Whoa! No way!" Tifa protested. They were in the ShinRa mansion. All of Avalanche was informed of the uncanny reappearance of Sephiroth, but only two members could make it to Nibelheim in time: Tifa being one, and Cloud the other. "I don't even know who the hell you are! You know almost _everything_ about Cloud and you told Vincent to call me and tell me Sephiroth is alive. How did you know that anyhow? I thought only Cloud could tell."

"Someone I know had a little run-in with Hojo."

"Who the fuck are you!? Where do you come from!?" she screamed. The diatribe was growing in decibels, and was starting to disturb the other residents in the house. 

The DC members, who were currently in another room, poked their heads out into the hallway to see what the matter was. Seifer, who was extremely enervated from his excursion the previous night, had sat down in the middle of the hallway with his back propped up against the wall. He had fallen asleep that way, and was now stirring uneasily at the cacophony of Tifa's irate voice.

Tired of Tifa's nagging chastising, Alex turned around and let loose an unexpected paroxysm. "My name is Alexander Sloan. I'm from a place called Earth. You don't know where it is because it's not on this planet. In fact, it's not in this _dimension_, so don't start pushing me around like I'm some novice who doesn't know what the fuck he's doing, _girly_."

As quickly as the outburst had started, it stopped, and Alex turned around once again. Tifa stood with her jaw agape, stunned into affronted silence.

Cloud walked up next to her, scrutinizing her and the man walking down the dingy halls ahead of her. He commented at the sour look on her face. "What's wrong with you?"

Tifa glowered at Alex's retreating form. "Asshole," she said acerbically and stormed off in the opposite direction.

Cloud stared at her for a moment, watching as she callously kicked Seifer's sleeping form.

"Ow! What the fuck, Lady?!" an angry gunblade specialist exclaimed.

The ex-SOLDIER sighed as Tifa ignored the blonde and continued down the hall towards the stairs. As he looked the opposite way, he discovered the conundrum known as Alex walking back through the halls, this time carrying the dimension-warping device.

The azure-eyed man stopped and looked at all who were present in the hallway. "Seifer!" he called out to the now-conscious blonde, "Call Squall and Eiko on the phone. Tell them to be ready for anything unexpected. We may need all the people we can get if we really do have to face Sephiroth."

The ex-knight nodded and got up to retrieve the cell phone, while Alex began to press buttons on the contraption that would soon take him home. He was going to go to Earth alone. After all, it would seem a little suspicious if a large group of people suddenly appeared out of nowhere. If there was any danger, the rest would follow. If there wasn't, then he would find Reno, wherever he was, and kick his ass.

_Is going alone such a good idea?_ His mind kept on unconsciously musing sick possibilities: what if he ran into Sephiroth and couldn't escape in time? Who would warn the others? Would Earth be destroyed by Meteor? Who would they blame? Him?

He looked around the dusty, sunlit hallway of the top floor for the second time. Who could he take with him? He spent a scarce amount of time scrutinizing the people mentally. Vincent would be too conspicuous, with the claw and the red eyes. Seifer would be too stubborn, and if they ever did run into Sephiroth the ex-knight might end up getting them both killed. He didn't doubt Raijin's skills as a fighter, but his judgment wasn't the best. And Fujin: the girl was paranoid. She didn't trust anyone but Raijin and Seifer. Cloud would have been a good person to take along, but there was an exception: Sephiroth could manipulate him… and the results could be disastrous. Tifa…? Alex shook his head. It wouldn't work out. The girl didn't trust him. In fact, she almost seemed to blame him for the ex-general's reappearance. If he couldn't take any of those people, then who _could_ he take?

He was distracted from his thoughts when a sound could be heard emanating from one of the bedrooms down the hall. A few minutes later Rufus emerged from the room. He looked like he had been caught in the middle of one of Pandemona's wind storms, and there was no better way to describe it. His jacket was gone, probably discarded on the dusty old carpet, or on the top of the bed he was sleeping on. His clothes were a mess: the long sleeved black shirt he was wearing wasn't tucked in anymore and his pants were wrinkled. His flaxen hair was disheveled so much that he was hardly recognizable as the same person.

Cloud turned towards the ex-president and glared. Rufus averted his gaze so he would not have to look in the ex-SOLDIER's direction. 

Earlier, when the two Avalanche members first saw the blonde, they had engaged in a heated argument. Avalanche members wanting to know how he ended up surviving the Weapon's blast, and Rufus wanting to know why they still cared about such a thing if his company was destroyed. Lasting about ten minutes, the dispute had ended with Rufus's aloof words, "I'm not dead. Deal with it, Miss Lockheart." And then he had walked out of the foyer; Avalanche members still staring daggers into the back of his head.

As it turned out, the ex-president had found the least-dusty room in the mansion and had decided to catch up on some much needed sleep. Alex had almost expected it from him. The blonde had become so tired that he had been plagued with an onslaught of incompetence earlier in the day. Alex, on the other hand, hadn't gotten any sleep at all. But he was wide-awake. How could he sleep? His planet was about to be destroyed.

"What's going on?" Rufus said, bringing Alex's mind back into the present. "I heard someone yelling."

"Yeah," Alex responded dryly, "That was Tifa." The blonde's face involuntarily twisted into a scowl at the mention of the name.

_He's going to snap if he stays here much longer_, Alex thought as he observed Rufus's demeanor starting to crumble from the cold stares received by Avalanche. _The whole planet thinks he's dead… it's as if he doesn't belong here anymore._

And suddenly Alex knew who would be the perfect person to take to Earth. But before any thoughts could be spoken, a distraught Seifer ran out from one of the rooms, the DC members following closely behind. 

"There's some fucked up shit going on," he said, a hint of alarm detected in his voice.

"Yeah," Raijin added, "Bad news from both Squall _and_ Eiko!"

"Well?!" he asked, for a moment becoming apprehensive, "what is it?"

"Hojo paid a visit to Balamb Garden," the blonde explained, "He showed up with a bunch of monsters and just started attacking everyone."

"He went postal, you know?" Raijin added again.

"IRVINE. GONE," the silver-haired Fujin informed.

"Yeah," Seifer said breathlessly, impatient to get the whole story told, "Hojo took him for some experiment. He said some shit about Jenova and that 'the project must continue'… whatever that means."

Cloud's eyes widened and stared in horror at the ex-knight. "Fuck!"

"The Jenova Project…" someone whispered from behind Alex.

The azure-eyed man spun around to face the person who had spoken. "Vincent…" he breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment he had thought it was Sephiroth or Hojo. Vincent, unlike anyone else, did not feel the least bit intimidated at the mention of the Project. His eyes only showed a deep hatred for the words.

"You can take me there, can't you?" the Vincent asked. It was hard to tell whom he was addressing. His dark crimson eyes beheld a far off, distant look, like he was being haunted by memories from long ago.

Alex wasn't too fond of the idea at first. He didn't want to just start sending people all over the place, but he remembered what the ex-Turk had been though. He didn't blame him for wanting revenge.

Absently, Alex nodded. "Yeah…" There were just so many tragic incidents lately that he doubted that even Aeris, if she were still alive, would have been optimistic about it.

"Wait!" Seifer's urgent voice could be heard again, "I'm not done yet!"

Everyone looked at him expectantly. The ex-knight hung his head in unfeigned apprehension. "Ultimecia attacked Lindblum, in Eiko's world."

"There's _another_ lunatic out there too?" Cloud asked anxiously.

"SORCERESS," Fujin explained, "USES MAGIC. DOESN'T JUNCTION."

"Yeah, but here's the news" Raijin retaliated to Cloud's remark, "Ultimecia and that Jenova chick are the _same person_!"

This bit of information captured _everyone's_ attention. "_What_?" Alex demanded.

Seifer sighed, quite uncomfortable about the Sorceress being the subject of conversation. "Squall told me that Hojo mentioned it. The SeeD wanted to know why it was any of his damned business getting involved in affairs from another dimension. The Professor simply told him that Ultimecia is Jenova and the Sorceress was most _definitely_ his business."

"He could be lying," Tifa said from across the hall, her temporary brooding finally over.

"He wouldn't lie," Vincent informed.

"EXPLAIN," Fujin ordered.

"Vince's right," Cloud confirmed, "Hojo likes to fuck with your mind. He'll tell you bits and pieces of the truth, just enough to make you curious… to make you think. Then he'll shut up and leave you hanging with the unanswered questions and the mystery of his insanity."

"Fuck," Alex said, "He's not making this easy for us." 

"Isn't there any _good_ news?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah, actually there is" Seifer said, surprising everyone else. "Eiko found the rest of the Turks."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first good news he'd heard since the start of the whole debacle.

There was a long moment of silence before anyone spoke. The first to say anything was Seifer. 

"I want to go to Lindblum," he stated indifferently.

"I'm going with Vince," Cloud stated a few minutes later, "Hojo fucked up our lives. I think it's time we ruined his."

"I'm going with Cloud," Tifa chimed in, "Wherever he goes, I go."

"SEIFER?" Fujin asked her friend.

"Yeah," he authorized, taking a shaky breath. "You guys can come. And plus, we're posse! And…" he paused looking a little worried, then admitted, "besides, I think I'm going to need your help anyhow."

Ultimecia bothered him to no end. It had felt good being a Sorceress's Knight. It had felt good until he had learned that he was being used. And by then it was too late. She manipulated him and made him inflict damage on the world. And it all led up to Time Compression. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was now afraid of her: afraid of being brainwashed again.

"Um…" Tifa spoke up meekly, "the rest of Avalanche knows that Sephiroth is out there. If he comes here, I'm sure they could hold him off until we get back." She gave Alex a week smile, a sign that she was starting to warm up to him.

Alex nodded his head curtly to barmaid's information. "Then I guess we all know what we have to do."

^_^_^_^

Reno set down the controller and tried fruitlessly to work out the cramp in his thumb. He had been playing the Final Fantasy games almost nonstop.

On the television, the Lifestream and Holy flowed across the planet, purging it of Meteor. And then finally Aeris's face was shown silhouetted against glowing ashes of mako. One game successfully completed. And it was surprisingly accurate, too… assuming that all the parts of the game were as accurate as the miniscule cameos of the Turks.

He only had to finish two more games. 

The Lunatic Pandora was confusing, and the overwhelming appearances by Seifer weren't helping his attitude towards the place much. The game was disturbingly accurate with the Sorceress's Knight's personality. Seifer was an asshole. But Reno had to admit to himself that he liked the blonde better than Squall. At least the knight had an opinion, unlike his indifferent enemy. 

And the purple-haired girl: she was more bizarre than he had originally thought possible. She lived in some ruined town with a bunch of funny-looking mogs that talked, called moogles. Just recently he had watched a snazzy cut scene involving Kuja summoning Bahamut upon the black mages. 

Reno took a sip of Pepsi as he contemplated his gaming adventure that took place over the past few days. It was hard to believe that it was completely real. Who would have thought it could be possible to use magic without materia, or to draw magic from your enemies? It seemed almost unimaginable… almost—well, for lack of a better word—fantasy-like. And this new environment that he was in? This place that was so similar to home, yet so different seemed even more unimaginable than the earlier mentioned.

That thought brought him back to the game he was playing. Reno nearly cracked up as he saw the image on the screen. Red XIII. With children. "Yeah," he said to himself amusedly, a smile gracing his lips, "the overgrown house pet has offspring. That's real believable. I thought he was the only one left?" He sighed and turned off the game. "I don't even _want_ to know how that happened!"

But what he saw on the television _after_ he shut off the game made him choke on the cola in his mouth. He spat out the carbonated soft drink and stared at the screen in disbelief. There sat the conservatively dressed woman that greeted him every night with the news that he so effectively tried to ignore. But this time his efforts to lose interest in the news proved futile.

On the TV the woman droned on while Reno's eyes were glued to the picture on the screen. It was a modified version, made to blend in to the society of Earth, but it was still the same. Although the hair was cut shorter, and the leather outfit forsaken for something a little more inconspicuous, the Turk could never forget the harsh mako glare in his cold aquamarine eyes. It was Sephiroth.

As he finally got around to listening to the actual details, he discovered that the General was terrorizing a small town not too far away: 'Blackwood, Pennsylvania,' from what the woman on the Ten O'clock News was telling him.

"Shit!" the redhead exclaimed, a panicked expression growing on his face. He looked around the tiny apartment for any items that might help him if he would happen to get in a battle.

He spotted the familiar green orb of his level 2 Cure materia on the coffee table next to the empty box of Chinese food. Grabbing it hastily, he ran towards the door, snatching his navy blue Turks jacket and nightstick on the way out.

Halfway out the door he realized that he wouldn't get to Blackwood anytime soon if he walked. _I guess I'll just have to catch a ride from someone_, he thought, wincing at the idea of being a hitchhiker. 

"Damn, I need a beer," he said to himself as he closed the door behind him. 

The lock clicked, and a frantic answering machine message resounded through the empty apartment with no one there to hear it.

^_^_^_^

Alex turned the key into the lock and opened the door. As he expected, there wasn't anyone present in the room beyond.

"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath, observing the apartment and all its disorderly glory. "Where the fuck did he go?" He began searching the trashed place for any clue as to where the Turk went.

Behind him, Rufus Shinra passively entered the room, observing the numerous piles of junk left disarrayed randomly on the floor. He laughed quietly to himself. "In the short time that I was President, I came close to firing him almost ten times."

"Oh, really?" Alex asked, momentarily distracted from the task at hand, "So why _didn't_ you fire him?"

Rufus shrugged, "He may not have liked to follow orders much, but he was good at his job."

"…what's that?" Alex asked nonchalantly as he picked up a crumpled receipt off the floor, "You mean the assassinations?"

Rufus didn't get a chance to answer. Alex cut him off with a long strain of curses as he read the words on the now readable receipt. "Shit! He spent 60 dollars at a 7-godamned-Eleven!"

The ex-president looked at him quizzically for a moment before picking up a 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi from the couch. "Is that where this came from?" he asked, indicating the bottle.

The raven-haired man looked at the blonde and sighed, quite annoyed at the redheaded Turk at the moment.

Rufus, on a sudden surge of curiosity, unscrewed the cap and sampled the unidentifiable drink. "Hey!" he exclaimed, sapphire eyes sparkling with wonder, "This tastes like that cola I used to drink when I was a kid. I used to go to this one place in Sector 8 that sold it…"

Alex sent him a murderous look that clearly told him to shut up. "Here," he said in an aggravated voice. He threw a bundle of clothes in the general direction of the white-clad man. "Make yourself useful and change clothes. You'll really look suspicious if you go out in public wearing something like _that_." He indicated Rufus's sophisticated, white suit.

The blonde picked up the bundle and stared at it dubiously, silently questioning the other man's taste in clothing. After a few minutes he faltered under Alex's irate glare, and he reluctantly trudged off towards the door that he guessed led to the bathroom.

Alex cursed yet again when his search of the room proved fruitless. Tired and stressed, he slipped off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor. He plopped onto the couch, closed his eyes, and placed his head in his hands. _Where can Reno be? Where's Sephiroth?_

And all of a sudden it hit him. "I'm such a moron," he whispered to himself as a look of revelation crossed his face. He snatched the channel changer from the cushion next to him and hit the 'power' button.

The television flashed on revealing the local news. For a brief moment he couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he couldn't even think. The face on the screen kept him frozen in place. It was most definitely Sephiroth. "Rufus?" he tried to call. It barely came out as a whisper. "Hey, Rufus!" he called, more successful this time, "Looks like we've got trouble!"

"What was that?" Rufus asked as he came out of the bathroom. He was clad in khaki cargo pants and an oversized black t-shirt. His blonde hair was still ruffled and unruly being that he didn't have time to do anything with it before he left. His appearance radiated the illusion that he was younger than he actually was. Even Alex, in his old, baggy jeans and faded gray t-shirt, looked more sophisticated than he did at the moment. The sight would have been humorous if not for the seriousness of the situation.

"Look who got his 15 minutes of fame," Alex commented, staring coldly at the TV.

"Sephiroth," the other identified the picture, gaping at the television with interest. On the screen, a woman, without any hint of fear in her voice, droned on about what she so insignificantly labeled a 'disaster.'

They both listened intently to her voice: "_…as of yet this man is unidentified. The culprit appears to be in his early thirties. He has white hair and green eyes. If you see him do not approach him. He is considered extremely dangerous…_"

"'Extremely dangerous?'" Rufus mocked, "That's an understatement."

"Come on!" Alex scolded the woman, "Tell me where he is!"

As if the woman could hear his desperate pleas, she revealed the location of the catastrophe.

"Blackwood!" Alex said triumphantly. 

"Stay here, Rufus. I have to get the rest of Avalanche." The raven-haired man once again pressed a few buttons on the dimension-warping device. However, this time, nothing happened. 

"What?" He asked ambiguously as he repeated the procedure, again coming up with the same results. "It's not working!"

Rufus glanced askance at the device. "You mean we can't go back?" A panicked expression now painted his face.

"No, not at the moment," Alex sighed, "We'll just have to go to Blackwood ourselves."

"Wait a minute. I don't have my shotgun, and I'm sure someone like _you_ don't have any weapons. I can't just go up to him and say 'Great Sephiroth, I'm the President of ShinRa Electric Power Company and I'm ordering you to stop destroying this town'" Rufus insisted, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Alex shrugged, "I'll figure it out when we get there."

He dug his car keys out of his pocket and walked towards the door.

Rufus sighed and followed him out of the apartment. "Why do I get the feeling that we're all going to die?"

End Ch. 9 at 06.16.01.

Okay, that was long. I didn't want to cut it off there, but I guess I had to or it wouldn't have gotten posted until forever. I created the town 'Blackwood,' just in case you're curious. No, it's not a real place. I put it in Pennsylvania because that's where I live ^_^ Anywho, look for the next chapter within a month, probably less than that, where you can expect to find out about Reno's hitchhiking adventure and (hopefully) get to see His Evilness, Sephy.


	10. Ashes of What Once Was

Transcending Reality

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

"Hey, Pretty. Don't ya wanna take a ride with me through my world?" –Poe__

Chapter Ten: Ashes of What Once Was - (double digits! Booyaka!)

_When people play video games they never think twice about the plotline, the characters, the events. It's all "hey, I'm gonna kick the antagonist's ass" or "damn it, I died! Now I have to replay that whole section over _again_!"_ _They never think twice: never notice how serious it is. When people die, they _die_,_ _as in gone, dead, done in._ Forever_._ _There isn't any 'game over' screen that flashes up or any button on the system that restarts the game. When life is done, it's done. But one would guess someone really couldn't blame them for not noticing it. It's just a video game. Sure, the characters may be_ outstanding_,_ _and the plotline may seem almost real… but it's still only a game, something created on a caprice by a mastermind with a great imagination. But… nothing is ever_ just _what it seems to be, now is it?___

^_^_^_^

After what seemed like hours of trying to coax passerby in cars to stop alongside the road, Reno had just about given up hope. That is, until an expensive-looking red convertible pulled up beside him.

"Hey, Sexy. Want a ride?" a feminine voice taunted from the front seat.

Reno nearly drooled. The woman in the car could be called nothing less than marvelously seductive. Golden waves of hair flowed over her shoulders, cascading down her back like a waterfall of sunshine. Bright eyes sparkled with brilliant blue light like the stars on a summer night in Rocket Town. The redhead had to force himself to stop gaping.

"I—I, uh," he stuttered, and then ended lamely with, "sure." The woman gestured towards the passenger seat and Reno followed quickly, mentally scolding himself for making him look a fool in front of a chick.

As soon as Reno slammed the door, the car sped off at an alarming speed, the lady's mouth curved up in a mischievous smile.

"What's your name?" she asked, taking her shining eyes off the road to stare into his emerald ones.

"Reno," the Turk responded after he had enough time to compose himself, "And what might yours be?" he asked, this time with a little more confidence.

"Jessica," she said, and giggled, a light melodious laugh. "What's up with the suit?" she asked, indicating his blue attire.

"What? This?" he asked in mock confusion. He tried to avoid the subject. "Forget about it. It's nothing."

"So," the girl asked lightly, trying to start a conversation, "Where do you come from?" She flashed him a seductive smile that made his cheeks flush. He decided that if all the women on Earth were as hot as this one, he'd have to stay there.

"Mid—" he stopped in the middle of the word, only then realizing that he had almost made a very grave mistake. "Far away… someplace far away," he covered quickly, "I'm not from around here so I don't know the area too well." He offered her a weak smile. The lady had a certain charisma about her that made a person, especially one like Reno, open up to her. If he wasn't careful enough, he might just end up telling her everything. _God, I'm starting to act like Elena!_

"Oh," the lady said simply, sensing that he was hiding something, but not wanting to push the question, "Okay then…" she pursed her crimson lips, trying to think of another good question. Her hair shimmered in the wind as cars rolled by on the opposite side of the road. Her golden locks flowed in the warm nighttime air of late June. Reno stared at her figure underneath tight leather pants and a red tube top.

"What do you do?" Jessica finally asked him, her eyes filled with curiosity as the full moon cast silver highlights about her face.

"Huh?" Reno asked dumbly, taken back by her speaking so suddenly and unexpectedly.

"You know, Silly!" she reprimanded teasingly, "What do you do? What's your _job_?"

His eyes went wide. What _was_ he supposed to tell her? Then a thought hit him and he smiled at the idea. "If I told you I'd have to kill you," he watched amusedly as she pouted, "Sorry, babe. It's confidential. That's just the way it is."

As soon as he said that, Jessica's face brightened, delighted about Reno's little game. "By the way, Secret Agent Man," she said, designating him a new nickname, "You never told me where you wanted me to take you?" she paused and then added cryptically, "I'll drive you anywhere your heart desires."

"Good," he said simply, "Can you drop me off at Blackwood?"

Her smile faded and was quickly replaced by a worried frown. "Blackwood? But isn't that where that crazy man is?" Reno's only response was to stare at her apathetically, and she continued heatedly, "Listen. I'm not going there and I'm not going to let you go, either. Haven't you heard? The whole town is in chaos! And I don't know about you, but I don't want to die!" She sighed, and then said more softly, "I'm turning the car around."

Now it was Reno's turn to sigh. His hand reached for something hidden in the wrinkles of his shirt and jacket at his left hip. He pulled out the standard issue handgun that each Turk was required to have, and aimed it directly at Jessica's head. "I'm sorry, babe," he said, emotionless, with only a slight hint of amusement twinkling in his eyes, "but you _are_ going to Blackwood."

The girl's eyes widened half in fright, and half in dangerous wonder. She let out a startled gasp. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, "Don't shoot me!"

Reno merely chuckled and smiled at her deviously.

"All right. I'll take you," Jessica said, giving in to his mirthless laughter, "But I'm not going in," she added quickly.

This caused the redhead's laughter to increase. "I didn't ask you to come with me, Honey. I wouldn't want a pretty chick like you to get yourself killed."

Some of the woman's fear dissipated, her previous mischievous grin taking its place. "Now, that doesn't mean _you_ have to get yourself killed." 

She took her eyes off the road to throw a sideways glance at Reno, looking into his cold eyes. He stared back into her eyes and laughed. Not cold and cruel like before, but a good-natured laugh. "I'll try not to." 

The gun still pointed at the girl, but she seemed a little less wary of it now. And he knew that even if he didn't have the gun at her head, she would still drive him to Blackwood. Not out of fear, but of another unidentifiable emotion that he couldn't quite comprehend. _Heh, what do you know? The chick trusts a Turk, of all people._

Reno smiled and leaned back in the reclining passenger seat of the car. He gazed up at the stars, at the unfamiliar burning embers that bunched together to form unknown constellations. It was ironic, and funny in its own way, how peaceful they were. He was on another planet, in another dimension; in the farthest place he could ever be from his home. But there seemed to be something unforgettable about the moment, something special, like it would be the last peaceful memory he would ever have.

And perhaps it would be.

^_^_^_^

He couldn't recall exactly when it happened or when he noticed it, but the bright orange glow grew, managing to block out the meager light of the stars against a midnight sky. It took him but a moment to figure out what it was.

"It smells like something's burning," Reno blandly stated, sitting up in his seat when he noticed the sour odor of soot.

Jessica shot a worried glance towards the sky, noticing the falling crimson embers. "Are…" he voice faltered, choking up with fear, "Are those ashes?"

Reno looked up towards the sky dismally, trying not to notice what he saw, "Yeah."

Jessica's face twisted into an ambivalent mix of hate, fear, and despair as they drove closer to the town. The ambiance didn't look any better as they drove forward. A thick orange glow blocked even the moon out now, as well as the thick black smoke that looked like ominous rain clouds. There were now so many scarlet ashes lighting the sky up that it gave the impression that it was raining fire.

The girl let out a small cry when the first set of houses came into view. Some were on fire, some were not. There seemed to be no pattern to it; the flames seemed to have been set at random. It was almost as if the arsonist didn't care what he lit as long as it could cause panic and chaos.

The blonde haired girl abruptly brought the car to a stop about a hundred yards before the first burning house. "This is it," she said, her voice wavering distraughtly, "I go no further."

Reno didn't hear the statement. He was lost in his own thoughts. The scene of death indisputably reminded him of an old file he had read at Headquarters once, and had had it visualized though a cut scene in Final Fantasy VII. "My God," he said, barely above a whisper, "It's like the Nibelheim incident all over again."

"_What?" Jessica glared at him suspiciously, "What are you talking about?"_

Reno winced. He did it again: he let information slip. "Oh, nothing," he offered her a weak smile, but didn't bother to hide the fact that he was intimidated, "It's more of that classified, top secret stuff, remember?"

The girl was not amused this time. Her frown only grew more incredulous. She shook her head slightly, her mouth hanging agape. "Who _are_ you?"

Reno opened up the door and stepped out of the car. He turned to look her directly in the eyes. His expression was cold once again. "I'm a Turk," he answered stoically. Shutting the car door, he turned and walked away. And he never looked back.

Jessica stared after him for a moment, shocked over his peculiar attitude, then peeled out of the town with an extremely disturbed look on her face, the tires on the car screeching in protest.

^_^_^_^

After seeing the town as it was that night, it was hard to believe one could once describe Blackwood with the word 'quaint.'

Yes, it used to be that way once; at least that was how Alex had described it. Only now it seemed like it never was. It seemed almost inconceivable that there were ever peaceful woodlands surrounding the main road leading into town, or children playing happily in the streets.

Now the place looked like hell, and Rufus was anything but thrilled to be at ground zero of the catastrophe.

Rufus was on edge: paranoid and ready to run at the first sign of trouble. His efforts to conceal his fear proved fruitless.

Alex, leading the blonde haired man into the hellish town, turned his head around to see if the ex-president was still following. He then veered off into dark side street tucked in between two presently-vacant houses. Rufus trailed behind and continued after the man.

The alley was completely black except for the amber light of not-so-distant fires reflecting off of Alex's near-emotionless face.

_Fire. Ever since the incident with Diamond Weapon, Rufus had discovered he now had an intense, almost primal, fear of fire. The memory of explosion all around him and his flesh burning was too fresh in his mind for him not to._

Rufus stared at Alex expectantly. The other man noticed something peculiar about the blonde's eyes, and returned the stare suspiciously. The ex-president's eyes glowed a faintly pale shade of azure. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. "Rufus, your eyes are glowing."

"So?" the other answered indifferently, "They have mako in them. What's your point?"

Alex cocked his head to the side confusingly. "I thought only members of SOLDIER were infused with mako?"

Rufus shook his head. "No. All the important members of ShinRa are—_were—infused with mako… with the exception of the Turks that is. But it's next to nothing compared to the high levels of mako SOLDIERs were exposed with. _

Alex nodded his head slowly, trying to comprehend the information. "Oh," he said simply. He was about to ask why the Turks were never infused with mako when Rufus interrupted him.

"Where are we going?" the blonde asked in an apprehensive voice, "You don't know where he's at! What makes you think he's at the end of some dingy side alleyway?"

"This is a shortcut," Alex responded, not bothering to look back at the blonde, "It leads to the center of town. Sephiroth's there."

"How do you—?" the ex-president was cut off abruptly by a cacophony of shouts that seemed oddly different than the screams of agony heard from the fires.

Before either of them knew what was going on, the street they were previously on was overrun by troops. Rufus stared bemusedly out at the soldiers in camouflage running purposely though the streets, his bewildered expression throwing an unasked question at Alex. 

"The U.S. Army," Alex responded, his face becoming grim, "I knew they'd get involved. With Sephiroth destroying an entire town completely on his own, it's kind of impossible for them _not to notice."_

"The military?" Rufus asked absently, his ambiguous expression changing to one of awe and longing. _I used to own__ an entire army… but not anymore._

They both watched in stunned silence as the troops undulated by, wave after wave of them. In the ambiguous throng of soldiers and vehicles, an occasional tank could be seen. "Whoa," a stunned Alex commented, "They must _really think something's up to bring in half of the fucking army!"_

Soldiers moved deftly thought the fires, searching every crevice, every corner, for anything suspicious. One moved unnervingly close to the alley and Alex backed up into the shadows with Rufus quickly following his example.

Another soldier passed alarmingly close to the alleyway's opening. This time, the man took the opportunity to search the looming darkness. The man, clad in camouflage, held his m-16 rifle unwavering in front of him. He glared suspiciously at the shadows as the two unnoticed men beside him held their breath. The uniformed man turned to them, and just as it seemed their hideaway would be revealed, the soldier dropped unceremoniously to the grimy pavement.

Rufus stood behind him, his face beaming with a complacent grin. He reached down and pulled the gun from the unconscious soldier's grip. "Come on," he said, noting with amusement the shocked expression on Alex's face, "I don't think they'll take kindly to us once they've discovered I knocked one of their men unconscious and stole his weapon." He looked down into the murky depths of the alleyway. "How do you know that Sephiroth's down there, anyhow?"

Alex shook his head sadly and whispered, "I was just following the screams."

Neither of them spoke the rest of the way into town. The only sound was of cackling fire and the cacophony of screams.

^_^_^_^

Everyone was afraid to even move. He kept them there like frightened animals, like prey. And Sephiroth was ready to pounce.

Reno was frozen also, lost within the crowd of terrified spectators, but the redhead wasn't terrified. He was determined, willing his feet to stay rooted to the pavement. The Turk looked ahead to the silver-haired man, his face set in an obdurate frown. He wanted to take out Sephiroth; that was all fine and good, but… he didn't exactly know how he was going to pull it off.

A minute ago, he had had a lot more options. It was chaos then: people were running and screaming, not caring where they were going as long as they weren't standing still. It would have been a perfect opportunity to strike at the General while he was unawares, but then the man had spoken in an ominously cold voice, commanding: "Be silent!"

The crowd, surprisingly, had listened. Reno couldn't comprehend why, but he had listened too. The throng of horrified faces around him had acknowledged the fact that Sephiroth radiated malevolence even if you _didn't really know what he was capable of._

And now the only option left that the redhead thought was remotely plausible was to somehow play the role of a sniper. Reno sighed. He always preferred his nightstick over his gun. He had bad aim… _very bad aim. But he still used his pistol whenever it was absolutely necessary, however much he despised it. After all, the redhead __was a Turk, and all Turks knew how to use a gun and use it well. But _Reno had to be the worst gunman in the history of the Turks, and he didn't think he had the skills (or the confidence) to take out the General without injuring a few civilians.

Sighing in submission, the redhead started scanning his surroundings for an acceptable place to fire his weapon at the insane SOLDIER. Vaguely, his hearing picked up the cold voice of Sephiroth again, but he wasn't listening. He pushed his way though empty faces, staring in morose wonder at the man with the mako eyes. He could almost picture it in his mind: Sephiroth floating above the crowd, in all his godlike presence, awing them with his ethereal abilities.

It almost made him laugh. The man still wanted to destroy the world. Reno wasn't really listening to Sephiroth's speech at all, but fragments of it slightly piqued his interest; parts like 'My ancestors perished long ago because of you,' and 'Humans destroyed the Cetra, now I will summon the Calamity from the Skies to tear this planet apart.' Reno couldn't understand the General no matter how hard he tried. _We're on a completely different planet! The people here aren't responsible at all for the Ancients… but Sephiroth is so bent on destruction that to him, all humans are the same, and all deserve to die._

But Reno had time to contemplate the matter no more, as he had found the perfect place to carry out his plans. It was on the roof of a tiny building not more than ten feet away.

His expression changing drastically from amused to grim, he climbed on top of the dumpster on the side of the building. From there, he boosted himself up a measly six feet onto the roof. The roof was smooth and black. Puddles of water collected in some places as a result of a recent rain.

Reno moved deftly against the second story wall, keeping his eyes peeled for anything unusual. He rounded the bend with celerity, and involuntarily took a sharp intake of breath. What he discovered was what he had least expected.

A man in a camouflage uniform was perched on the ledge, crouching so as not to be seen by the crowd or by the one terrorizing it. He had a rifle pointed intently at Sephiroth, whose silver hair was now cut short, and whose black leather clothes were traded for something more local. But the image of Sephiroth was still intimidating, and the man with the rifle was about to fire on him.

_Heh,Reno thought, __looks like someone beat me to the job._

The redhead carefully made his way back around the corner before the uniformed man sensed his presence. He watched as the man aimed with deadly accuracy. Better than his, better accuracy than a Turk. He watched as the man's index finger came to the trigger. He watched as the trigger was inevitably being pushed inward…

"_Sephiroth, you fucking prick!!!"_

Reno was distracted by the unexpected voice. The man in camouflage was distracted by the voice. And most devastatingly, Sephiroth was distracted by the voice. He turned his aquamarine mako eyes on the crowd, floating forward, scanning the frightened faces for the one who dared defy the silence. 

Sephiroth moved out of the uniformed man's direct line of sight and he cursed, setting his rifle down angrily beside him. He reached into one of the numerous pockets lining his uniform and revealed a walkie-talkie, speaking heatedly into the mouthpiece.

Reno lost interest in the cursing, elite man and also began scanning the crowd for the one who had so audaciously spoken up. The voice sounded oddly familiar to Reno, as if he knew it from somewhere.

Suddenly, gunfire was heard, and bullets riddled the levitating form of Sephiroth. At least, Reno _thought they had hit the man. Sephiroth laughed as another round of bullets smashed head-on into the demigod. _Reno gasped. The bullets bounced off of a high-density magic barrier, one much more powerful than a Wall spell.

The man in camouflage dropped his walkie-talkie and stared at the demigod in disbelief. Reno cursed. And the man who had spoken earlier spoke again.

"You ruined my life!"

Sephiroth let out a demeaning laugh. "Is this _Cloud that I am speaking to?"_

"You're comparing me to _him!?" the voiced asked superciliously. _Reno knew that voice. It wasn't Cloud's. It sounded more like… There. He spotted the owner of the voice. It was a young blonde man who looked no older than a teenager, but the hair wasn't spiked, and the eyes weren't seeping with mako. It most definitely was not Cloud. The Turk shook his head. He knew the boy from somewhere. "I used to be the most powerful man on the _entire planet!!!"_

Sephiroth finally spotted the boy who was making the ruckus. The look he was giving the silver-haired man was so deadly that it belied his age. A rifle exactly like the one the uniformed man had was resting in his grasp, pointing directly at Sephiroth's head. The boy didn't seem to care that the weapon was useless.

Reno's mouth dropped. The boy was incognito, but he saw past the façade. He recognized the deadly glare, the venom in his voice. It was Rufus Shinra. "I don't believe it!" Reno shouted out in disbelief, "What the hell does he think he's doing!?"

Rufus spoke up again, this time in a calmer, but no less deadly voice, "I'm sure you've recognized me by now. I'm Rufus Shinra, remember? You killed my father with that… _masamune." He glared at the sword in the SOLDIER's right hand contemptuously. "But I didn't care about him. I cared about the company. But, Sephiroth, whenever you used the Black Materia, whenever you summoned Meteor, you woke up the Weapons." Rufus sighed and smiled at Sephiroth evilly, "Yes, there was Sapphire Weapon, Emerald Weapon, Ruby Weapon, Ultima Weapon, and…" Rufus gasped mockingly, "…Diamond Weapon! You __do remember Diamond Weapon, don't you?"_

Reno stared over the edge of the building, his eyes so wide the white could be seen completely around the irises. He winced at the ex-president's tirade. "_Shut. The. Fuck. Up," he said in between clenched teeth._

Sephiroth laughed in amusement and responded to the blonde's paroxysm. "Rufus Shinra, what a surprise. I thought you were dead."

"The same thing that's kept you alive has kept me alive." All eyes were either on Sephiroth or Rufus now, a slight pang of confusion overrunning their fear.

"Oh, really?" the General responded, not the least bit surprised, "Then that would explain why you're not on the correct planet."

"Why are you _here? There's no Lifestream here. You can't become 'one with the planet,'" someone else spoke up. It was the person next to Rufus. _Reno squinted, trying to see past the glare of the fire. He couldn't make out any features, but he did come to the conclusion that the man had short black hair. _It's probably Alex, the redhead thought, __but why any of them can't learn to keep quiet is beyond me! They're going to get themselves killed!_

__

"On the contrary," the silver-haired man replied, "There _is a Lifestream here, as well as on every other planet that houses life." Yes, _Reno could tell now. It _was Alex that had asked the question, however stupid the question may have been. __Sephiroth's right. There's a Lifestream on every planet, including this one… isn't there? Now that he thought about it, he wasn't so sure. He grew up in a place where there was a Lifestream, on a planet that had one. But he had never been to another planet before. He had assumed that since his planet had a Lifestream, all planets did. But by the way Alex asked the question, it didn't seem like Earth had one, or ever did, for that matter. __Maybe Sephiroth just assumed Earth had a Lifestream without really knowing if it did or not… or maybe he knows something we don't._

__

A glance to his side showed that the man in camouflage was once again talking madly into the walkie-talkie. Absently, Reno wondered who was on the other end of the connection. A look back at Sephiroth and he discovered that the man was about to speak, his mouth curved up in a wicked smirk. But much to the redhead's surprise, the smile faded, replaced by a grim frown. The man's aquamarine mako eyes gained a faded, far off look, like he wasn't really seeing or listening to the people in front of him.

And out of nowhere all hell broke loose. Hundreds of men dressed exactly like the one with the walkie-talkie swarmed into the plaza, rifles pointed with deadly accuracy at the man levitating above the crowd.

"Freeze!" one of them yelled, as if that would actually stop the lethal man. As it turned out, the men didn't even have a chance to even attempt to stop him, for Sephiroth threw his head back and laughed. He disappeared into thin air, causing frightened gasps and shocked murmurs to flow though the crowd of people.

Reno now recognized the men for who they truly were. _Damn it, I should have seen it sooner! He was so used to seeing royal blue uniforms and helmets and goggled faces that he didn't recognize the skills of an army when he saw one. __…been with ShinRa so long now that I don't even know __what anything else is anymore!_

__

But the threat was temporarily over now, and Reno let loose the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He slumped down to lean against the wall to the roof. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes.

"Don't move! Drop your weapon!" The voice was so distinguished amidst the whimpering throng of people that it made Reno jump. He looked up over the edge of the precipice to see a group of soldiers surround Rufus, the later having his hands behind his blonde head in tenacious admittance. Alex had backed away far enough so that he was all but forgotten in the multitude of soldiers. _Way to go, Shinra! Damned good way to get yourself knee-deep in shit!_

__

Despite his cynical attitude towards the situation, his mind raced for possible solutions for the problem. He watched, his face a mix of horror and bewilderment. Below, on the ground, Alex watched with the same expression written on his features. 

Alex looked up and saw him looking down from atop the building. The man's nervous eyes darted back and forth between Reno and the soldiers leading a hapless Rufus away from his two companions. Alex faltered, pausing in mid-step towards the blonde. He threw an uncertain glance at the redhead and Reno vigorously shook his head. He wasn't about to let Alex go after the ex-president. That would be suicide.

Reno began to descent from the roof. He wouldn't let Alex after them only because it would be shear stupidity. Reno, however, would find a way to liberate Rufus. _If I can't, he thought, __then I don't deserve to be called a Turk._

__

Alex looked absently at the troops, some leaving with Rufus in their custody, others staying to estimate the damage done to the town. When he looked up to see Reno walking his way, he threw his arms in the air in a gesture of defeat. "What do we do now?"

"What the hell was Shinra thinking?!" the Turk interrupted sharply.

Alex shrugged. "I don't know. Ever since I saw him in the Squaresoft building he seemed a little edgy, especially when someone mentioned something to do with his company. When we were in Nibelheim he saw how much everything changed, how no one uses mako power anymore, and he would hardly talk to anyone for the longest time afterwards. And then again, when we saw the army coming in to town, he seemed bothered by it. I guess seeing Sephiroth set him off." Alex shook his head bemusedly. "I don't think Eiko's Curaga spell really cured him at all. Shinra's _still crazy."_

Reno didn't know anything about a Cure spell being used on Rufus. No one had told him about it, but it didn't matter now. He'd think about it later. "Do you want Rufus Shinra rescued or not?" he asked dejectedly.

"Well, yeah, but… we don't have the time. And he's with the _military! They're probably going to take him to Area 51 or something!" the dark-haired man exaggerated. "How could __you possibly save Rufus?"_

"I'm a Turk, remember?" the redhead answered matter-of-factly, "This used to be my job. And besides, it'll be fun!" At the mention of the word 'fun,' Alex winced visibly.

"Look, Sephiroth is one thing but… the United States Government?"

"Come on, Alex! You're procrastinating!" Reno retaliated, and walked off in the direction Rufus had headed, "I need you. I don't know this place, this _planet. It's unfamiliar. I can infiltrate __any military base, but I don't think I can do it without your help." Alex looked at him dubiously and _Reno sighed, annoyed at the other's sudden mood change. "Look, you brought me into this mess. Don't chicken out now."

Alex hesitated a moment before nodding. "All right," he said hoarsely, "We'll take my car and follow them, but after that, it's up to you."

Reno grinned, "I knew you'd help! Now if only we could stop by one of your friends' house to pick up a case of beer…" Alex glared at him sharply causing Reno to laugh heartily, "I'm just kidding. Seriously, lighten up, kid… now, uh, where did you say you parked your car?"

End Ch. 10 at 07.17.01.

Emerald's stupid end-of-chapter ramble: Hmmm… How'd u like that chapter? I kind of figured the U.S. Government would get involved if just about the whole continent knew about the 'Blackwood Incident.' But anyhow, there are several reasons this chapter came out late: 

1) In late June, I bleached my hair and dyed it neon red. Well, it turned out a little _too red so I dumped peroxide on it to dull it out. It turned orange after that, so I went down my friend's house (thank god for my friend, Jessie) to try and get it out. I put __even more bleach in it but it didn't get the orange out. It only turned the roots that were still brown and made them blonde. So now my hair looks like Tidus's from FF10 only it's orange on the tips. It's kinda cool; actually… it looks like fire. But anyhow all that took place over the time span of a week and it took off valuable writing time. _

2)I went out and spent money on Chrono Cross. I've been playing that almost nonstop but I can't beat the time devourer the correct way so I stopped. I know I have to use the elements in a certain order but every time I try it the boss interrupts with his own spell and it ruins the whole thing!!! Um… *looks around nervously* if anyone reading this at the moment knows how to kick his ass and save Schala, then PLEASE tell me in a review or something because I really REALLY wanna see the good ending. 

3) I've been reading Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' series and I've been reading everyone else's fanfiction. 

4) I have a job… 

And those are my big, fat, lame excuses for this chapter being out later than usual. For all those wondering, I try to have less than a month's hiatus between chapters 'cuz I feel lazy if it's anymore than that. In Ch. 11 expect to see more of Irvine. Someone else is probably gonna be in there too but I haven't decided who yet. And… if you've read though my big, fat, lardy ramble then I thank you, 'cuz I know I can get extremely boring.


	11. Lab Rat

Transcending Reality

"Transcending Reality"by: Emerald Eyes

"I know that you've been damaged and your soul has suffered such abuse. But I am not your savior; I am just as fucked as you!" –Stabbing Westward

Chapter Eleven: Lab Rat

There was a tiny window set high on the wall in the prison-like room. If he stretched his feet far enough, he could see a miniscule amount of the scenery outside. The skies were sometimes gray, other times bright cerulean, with whipped cream clouds floating by. And if he was lucky enough, he could sometimes catch a glimpse of a seagull here and there. But even if he could not see them, he could always hear the birds' coarse cries. It was a small comfort when he was unable to look out the window; it was something to keep his mind off the existence he now knew. 

Faint memories in his subconscious mind told him that he was near the ocean, although at this point in time, he hardly knew what an ocean was anymore. The constant dull roar of waves crashing onto the shore never ceased. And when the breeze drifted into the window he could smell the salt in the air. It was the only comfort, the only thing pleasant in a world of pain, the thing that kept him from going completely mad.

It was dark, both inside and outside his cell. He sat in a corner, his arms hugging his knees and his khaki trench coat pulled close to protect him from the cold, saline air. He was looking out the window again. He could see the stars and the all-too-unfamiliar moon floating amidst a midnight sky. The moon was full, casting a pale teal light about the room, the light making a perfect silhouette of the barred window on the stone floor.

He was locked in his prison, his 'home.' It was all he knew now… that, and the man. He knew not of the man's real name, he only knew him as 'Professor,' the greasy black hair and white lab coat forever ingrained into his mind. He knew not of his own name; the Professor knew of it, he was certain, but the vile man only called him his 'Specimen,' as if nothing from his life before had ever mattered. 

_Before_. He knew there was a 'before.' He had memories of it. Just clips, really, small flashbacks. He remembered certain faces, certain words, but nothing ever came close to making sense. One of his more frequent memories was of a smiling girl in a bright yellow dress. But each day those memories faded more and more… and he feared the day they would finally be diminished. 

The Professor came often enough, sometimes too often. Several times a day he would visit his prison, either to bring food and water, to taunt him, or…

The boy shivered, pulling his trench coat even tighter. Sometimes the Professor would come to him, malevolent eyes shining behind thick glasses, and smirk at him, saying, "Well, my Specimen. You know what time it is, don't you?" He did. The words clawed at his soul like a demon. He didn't exactly know what the Professor did to him at that time, but he knew the experience was too ghastly to recall. He knew that when he woke up afterwards, he was in a great deal of pain.

The boy cringed, remembering the agony of it all. It seemed as if every time he awoke, something new hurt. He unconsciously rubbed the sore spot on his left arm, the product of his last encounter with the Professor.

He saw a light flicker on in the distance; it blocked out the stars and moon. The Professor was coming. He could just picture the man walking down the hall, his hands folded behind his back and a scowl on his face. Soon the Professor was standing at the barred door to his cell.

"I have to go out and get supplies," he said, aloofly, "Mako is harder to come across than it used to be. It's hard to believe almost every house used it as a power source less than a year ago." The Professor sighed. The boy looked up at him blankly. This was nothing new. The Professor sometimes talked to him as if he were sane enough to understand what he was talking about.

"I used to have the latest equipment, the most advanced technology, until the ShinRa was destroyed," the Professor mused as he scrutinized his Specimen. Again, the frightened boy had no idea what the other was talking about. "I salvaged what I could from the old ShinRa building, but…" he trailed off, as if he wanted to say something else, but dismissed the idea. "The Project must continue, no matter what kind of equipment I have," he finished sharply.

The scowl on his face faded, replaced by a maddening smile. "But you, my precious Specimen, are fairing a lot better than I originally expected… certainly a lot better than that _failure_, Cloud."

The boy cringed. He had said the last part of the sentence with such bitter venom in his voice. The Professor cackled to himself, as if he found the boy's fear amusing, and walked back down the hall.

The light shut off once more and the boy continued to look out the window at the nighttime sky.

Outside, the ocean continued to roar.

^_^_^

Fifty-two gil. That's it. Fifty-two gil and a level 1 Bolt materia. Trash.

Yuffie sighed irritably, pushing her neck-length dark hair out of her face. She had expected to fill her pockets with a lot more than _that_.

Meteor had left Midgar in ruins, making Junon the biggest city in the world. Yuffie had to laugh at that. She had been in the wretched city all day, and with all the people, she had only purloined fifty-two gil and a level 1 bolt materia.

She frowned stubbornly at the dilapidated Junon houses as she walked along the shore. "Stupid city!" she cursed as she angrily kicked a seashell out of the way.

Yuffie slowly made her way across the white, sandy beach until she reached the side of the road. It was completely deserted. _I can't believe it_, she thought, _the biggest city in the world, and no one's walking the streets!_ It was late at night, but the girl still expected someone to be out.

The thief scanned the vacant streets dubiously in search of an easy target. Her gaze stopped and held on a lanky form exiting an old building at the end of the street. Yuffie hastily scrambled into the shadows so as not to be seen by her unsuspecting victim. She waited for the figure to pass under the illumination of the streetlamp so she could get a clear view of where his pockets were.

Yuffie leaned closer as her victim stepped within the carapace of light… and gasped.

_Hojo.__ For Holy's sake, it's Hojo!_ She stared at the man whom she had thought was dead with a mixed feeling of hatred, disbelief, and fear. The light reflected off of Professor Hojo's thick glasses and black, greasy hair. There were _plenty_ of pockets to rummage though in that white lab coat, but the thief would touch nothing on the man.

She stared after him for a moment as he walked along the sidewalk, unperturbed by Yuffie's thievery. She looked back and forth, her gaze shifting between the Professor and the old house he had come out of. She couldn't decide if she wanted to the man or loot his house.

As it turned out, fate had decided for her, as she discovered she was shocked enough that her body refused to move until Hojo was completely out of sight.

Cursing her fear, Yuffie sprinted in a dead run towards the old house at the end of the road. Although her feet were moving one way, her eyes scanned the area in the other direction to confirm that Hojo wasn't returning any time soon. In the process she tripped over an object that wasn't on the road previously. After spiraling through the air and landing unceremoniously on the pavement, she let out a pained groan. "Ouch…"

"Hey!" came the angered reply, the voice sounding vaguely familiar to the thief, "Watch where you're going! You wouldn't want to kill an innocent little cat, would you?"

Yuffie had an acerbic reproach at the tip of her tongue, but it was lost as soon she recognized the person. Her expression changed from one of anger to one of bewilderment. "_Reeve_?"

"_No_," the other responded, insulted, "After Meteor, Reeve took the time to give me a mind of my own. It's just Cait Sith now."

"Oh, okay… Cait," Yuffie responded, still shocked at finding the cat in Junon… and at finding him without his giant mog. "What are you doing here?"

Cait Sith, formerly controlled by Reeve, brushed off his black and white robotic cat body. "You know how Reeve's a member of ShinRa? Well, after the Meteor Crisis, he felt kind of guilty, so he's been all over trying to undo all the wrongs the company's caused. He's been here in Junon for the past few weeks helping some other people clean up the ocean." --the cat sighed—"Sometimes I think he pushes himself too hard. Did you know he was planning to help rebuild Midgar!?"

Yuffie shook her head and the cat continued. "Anyhow, he had me out in the city looking for Sephiroth—or, to say it better, any news as to where he may be."

The last comment caught the ninja unawares. "Whoa, wait a minute, here. Did you just say 'Sephiroth?' Cait, isn't the guy _dead_!?"

Cait Sith tilted his head to the side and looked at her quizzically. "Cloud didn't call you?" The ninja's expression was still blank so he continued. "He called all of the Avalanche members a little over a week ago. Sephiroth is alive, and apparently he's out causing major damage." The cat paused and considered how to continue. "There seemed to be more to it, something he neglected to mention. He wanted all of us to meet up at the mansion in Nibelheim. Reeve and I, we couldn't make it, so he just told us to keep our eyes peeled. He said he's get back to us later if we've found anything… you mean you didn't know, Yuffie?"

"Whoa, ouch," the girl said absently as she clutched her head with both hands, "Brain cramp."

Cait watched the unusual display of confusion for a few moments before speaking again. "You haven't seen any sign of Sephiroth anywhere, have you?"

"No," Yuffie responded, finally getting over her ambiguousness. Her face then paled. "But I _did_ see signs of Hojo! In fact, I saw the creep himself! He came walking out of that house over there!" She pointed dramatically towards the building she had been running for previously.

Cait Sith turned to look at it. 

It was the last house on the street, located right by the sandy shore. The house was old, quite possibly built many years before the ShinRa began to occupy Junon. It was made of dark grey stone, and however uncanny its appearance was, it somehow remained unsuspicious and well hidden within the throng of the other Junon homes.

"Come on, let's check it out!" Cait ordered. He leaped up to the house confidently and stared up at the old, wooden door.

Yuffie followed, all the while muttering incoherently about meaning to explore it before, until she ran into a certain cat.

"How're we going to get in?" the cat asked.

Yuffie grinned. "Just leave that part to me."

^_^_^

The boy sighed. The Professor was finally gone. He knew the man would be back eventually, but for the moment there was a hiatus from the pain.

He crouched in the corner of the room, the same corner where he always sat, and listened to the ocean. The constant roar of the waves lured him into a false sleep. He hovered in a stare of quasi-consciousness, letting the saline air fill his lungs, letting the cold breeze caress his face.

In his pseudo-slumber, the sounds of the sea pulled him into an intense dream, a dream of 'before.'

He stood on white sand. It was wet, and constant waves of salty water ebbed and flowed around his feet. It was the ocean. He knew not how or why he could put a name to the scene, or remember ever seeing it, but he knew that was what it was.

In his hand he held a bottle of some unidentifiable substance. Of the substance, he could not assign a label, but he remembered how it felt and how it tasted. It tasted bitter and stung his throat. It made him light-headed and clumsy, but it felt good.

In his dream he was laughing and having a good time. Beside him stood two other people. _My friends?_ He recognized the faces, but barely. And he couldn't recall at all what they were like. Of the two boys beside him, he could not remember either of their names.

They were celebrating. _Celebrating what?_ They had done something important, he knew that much, but he did not know what he had helped do that was so significant.

He was running along the beach, drinking and screaming and having fun. He was running and running until he spotted a lone female figure silhouetted by the moonlight. She stood on top of a tall sand dune, her hands placed defiantly on her hips.

She spoke. She said his name, a name that slid past the surface of his mind as if it were ice. She wore and angry, obdurate frown as she stepped into the starlight, although her eyes sparkled with amusement.

The girl in the yellow dress.

Her green eyes shimmered as her rose lips moved with the words of her sweet voice…

Voice.

_Voice._

_Voice?_

_That's right; I can hear voices… people talking…_ The voice he heard was not coming from the girl in the yellow dress or from anyone else on the beach. A wave of panic pushed him out of his reverie, making him look around the room and the hall outside nervously.

Buts and pieces of conversation floated to him from somewhere in the house. The voices echoed off of the plain stone walls, making it all but impossible to discern where they were coming from.

"…dumb cat…why…basement…gives me the creeps…"

"…that's where Professor Hojo…experiments…ShinRa mansion…"

_Professor?_ The boy pushed himself even farther into the corner.

The two voices—he knew there were only two because he could hear their footsteps—were arguing with one another. He could tell by the tone of the voices: the first one whiney, the second slightly bitter.

"That is _not_ a good excuse for being in this stupid, spooky basement!"

They were closer now, perhaps right around the bend. He was certain a run-in with the two was bound to happen at any moment.

"Well, you wanted to search the _entire_ house. The basement is part of it. Why wait until later to search—"

The boy's breath caught in his throat. They had rounded the corner and had spotted him. Not knowing of anything better to do, he froze, glaring at them. In the dark he could make out a short, animal-like silhouette, and a taller feminine one. They mimicked his action for a brief moment before diving into the shadows.

"Did you see 'em? Did you see 'em?" the tall one asked in a frantic voice.

"Yeah," the short one replied, "But do you think _it_ saw _us_?" The boy was confused. He wasn't quite sure of what he was, but he knew he wasn't an 'it.'

"I don't know," the tall one continued, "Doesn't matter now. It's so dark in here… can't see a damned thing."

Something was wrong. The two intruders were hiding in the darkest shadows, yet he could see them clearly. He could see _everything_ clearly, almost as if the lights were on. And the two voices held their conversation at a whisper, impossible to hear on the other side of the room where he was hidden. And yet, he heard them clearly, as if they were speaking directly to him. The boy remembered seeing things and hearing things in that fashion for as long as he knew he existed, but… he knew these things weren't in any way normal. He knew he wasn't supposed to have the special talents that he had. Subconsciously, he tried to deny it. _I'm not supposed to see them because it's nearly pitch black, but… they can see me. Oh, Hyne, is it just my imagination? Have I gone_ completely _mad now?_

Just like everything else, the word 'Hyne' was pulled out of his repressed memories of 'before.' The intruders caught his attention again as their conversation continued.

"What if he's one of those experiments? You know, one of those Sephiroth clone lab rats? We can't just leave him here!" the tall one said. The boy intriguingly watched the two as he absently rubbed the sore, itchy spot on his left arm, a product of a recent encounter with the Professor.

"Why not?" the short one argued, "It hasn't seen us yet. We can just walk away and it'll never know we were here."

With his enhanced vision the boy saw the tall one turn to stare directly at him and gasp. "Oh, he sees us all right," she said with certainty.

"How do _you_ know?"

The tall one, the girl, turned back around to glare at the animal. She waved her hands wildly in the air. "Well, isn't it blindingly obvious!?" she scolded, pointing in the boy's direction, "_Now_ do you see?"

The animal turned to stare at him as well. "Oh yeah," it finished up lamely. The boy knew they could see him, he just didn't know how it was possible. Maybe he really was crazier than he had previously thought.

The tall one moved along the wall until she reached the base of his cell, the short one carefully following her example. She stopped at the door to examine the lock in the dark-but-not-so-dark room. She frowned at it for a moment, squinting her eyes, and pulled something tiny from her hair. She bent down and hastily inserted the object into the lock, and after a few minutes, the door opened with a 'click.'

The boy held his breath uncertainly. _Anything's better than the Professor, right?_

The girl muttered something under her breath: "A bobby-pin works miracles." He was sure he was the only one to hear her comment.

She smiled triumphantly, and then directed her grin towards him, softening it to show she meant no harm. He stared back at her dubiously.

The cage door screeched in protest as she opened it wide. Once inside the cell, she stared at him thoughtfully before averting her gaze sadly to the floor. "Poor guy," she mumbled.

The animal stared at him with pity. "Gee, he's only a kid. How could Hojo do something this horrible?"

The girl sighed and reached down to grab his arm. He reflexively drew back, instinctively remembering the cruel things done to him. She smiled at him again and spoke in a gentle, comforting voice. "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

Before long, the boy had himself trusting the two enough to let them touch him.

"Cait, go get Reeve. Call someone on their PHS. I don't care as long as you can find someone," the girl ordered, "I can't drag him across all of Junon by myself!" The animal bounded up the steps at the end of the hallway in a flash.

Before he knew it, the boy found the girl's arms around his waist. She slowly made her way down the hall, dragging the boy, too heavy for her to carry, across the stone floor.

He stared up at her with confidence now, with a single thought floating through his mind as he drifted back to sleep: _Anything is better than the Professor._

^_^_^

He drifted in the darkness, his thoughts ceased to exist in the dreamless void. He was nothing, and nothing mattered. Nothing existed in the vacancy of sleep. He wanted to stay there forever, wanted nothing to do with the world outside, but sleep could not last forever.

Voices drifted into the emptiness of his sleep like sounds carried on a breeze through an open window. They gradually lured him out of the dark nothingness.

He became dimly aware of more noise, mainly the roar of the ocean, although the onslaught of voices made it very hard to distinguish.

He felt something warm and soft under him, a sharp contrast to the cold stone floor he was used to. It felt like he was snuggled up in his bed at home in Galbadia, or in his dorm in BalambGarden. _Balamb__?_In an instant, the boy was fully conscious, his eyes wildly searching his surroundings. _Am I really home? Was it all just a crazy dream? Great Hyne, tell me it was all just a dream!_

The room was tiny, but cozy. He occupied one of the two beds. From what the boy could see, he reasoned that he was at an inn. A glass sliding door stood open on the opposite side of the room, letting in morning sunlight and the sounds of a beachside town. _A place near the ocean.__ It could be Balamb… maybe._

The thought was discarded when his eyes fell upon the other occupants of the room. They didn't look like anyone he'd ever seen in the small town, but at least they weren't the Professor. With a feeling somewhere between relief and disappointment, he focused his thoughts on the people before him. 

There were three of them, four if he counted the weird-looking cat perched on the shoulder of the one. He recognized the cat. He was there last night. The girl that stood next to his bed was probably the one from the previous night also. 

He gaped at her cheery, exuberant face. She reminded him of the girl in the yellow dress. _Selphie_, he told himself stubbornly, content with the return of his memories. _Her name is Selphie._

__

The other two, he had never seen before.

The one with the cat on his shoulder was short for a man, with dark, slicked back hair and tanned skin. He noted that the man was also wearing an expensive looking suit.

The other man in the room was older than the other, with short, unruly blonde hair. He was wearing a green jumpsuit, and a worn and faded jean jacket. A pair of goggles were perched on the top of his head, a pack of cigarettes secured under the strap. The man's mouth was twisted into a contemptuous scowl, a cigarette hanging limply from his mouth.

The strange people stopped talking amongst themselves once they noticed the boy's scrutiny. They stared at him with expressions anywhere from fear to sympathy. The girl, however, smiled at him. "Hey, you're finally awake!"

"Yeah," the boy responded, fidgeting nervously from all the attention, "I guess I am."

"_I'm_ the one that found you in Hojo's lab last night," the girl continued arrogantly, "I'm also the one who saved the planet from Meteor _and_ Sephiroth! I'm a ninja, one of the descendents of Shinobi, and one of the best! I'm Yuffie Kisaragi from the mighty village of Wutai!" She finished her introduction off dramatically with, "Got any materia?"

"Um… no," he answered slowly, not knowing exactly what materia was, "I'm… Irvine Kinneas… from Galbadia."Irvine smiled at her wickedly, replacing his confused look with his usual cocky grin. "I'm a sharpshooter from BalambGarden, _and_ I saved the world from Time Compression and Sorceress Ultimecia."

"Oh yeah"—the ninja was cut off by the cat.

"Hey!" he protested, "I helped destroy Meteor too. It wasn't just _you_!" 

Irvine threw a questioning look towards Yuffie.

"Oh, yeah!" she informed, "That's Cait Sith. He's a robot. He used to be controlled by Reeve—the short guy in the expensive getup…" Reeve waved to him and mumbled a greeting. "…but the cat's got a mind of his own now."

Irvine's eyebrows rose in surprise and confusion. "Okay… Yuffie, Reeve, and Cait Sith. Who's the other guy?"

"My name's Cid Highwind, boy! Don't you fucking forget that!" The jumpsuit and flight goggles couldn't escape his curiosity. It seemed to fit the man well: he couldn't picture him wearing anything else. But the name 'Cid' just didn't fit him. It reminded him too much of Headmaster Cid from Garden. "What's up with the jumpsuit?" he asked, "Are you a mechanic or something?"

Cid laughed. "Hell, yeah! I'm the one who designed the Highwind—the only airship around—as well as some of the planet's fastest planes. You're lucky, Kinneas. I just finished repairing the Tiny Bronco yesterday. I flew here as soon as I heard about Hojo. Where there's Hojo, there's Sephiroth… and I can't wait to kick his ass. The fucker nearly demolished my airship when Meteor hit!"

"Um, okay." Irvine was baffled. They were all talking to him as if he were supposed to understand what they were saying. He scrutinized each of their faces once more as he absently rubbed the sore spot on his left arm. They were all staring at him as if they were expecting more of him. He found his ignorance disconcerting. He wanted to leave these strange people as soon as possible. "Where is this place? Am I in Balamb? Because if I am, then it's only a short walk back to Garden. I should be leaving now," he hinted, "I don't want to bother you."

"You're in Junon," Reeve said, looking quite unnerved about Irvine's inquiry, "I do not know of this 'Balamb' you speak of, or of 'Garden' or 'Galbadia.' And I don't think you're in any kind of shape to travel. You've been asleep for three days straight!"

"Oh," Irvine's hopes dropped in a heartbeat.

"Yeah," Yuffie added insolently, "I wouldn't want to go _anywhere_ looking like you do at the moment. The Professor can really mess people up, you know? Plus, I think you're still a little bit loopy from wherever kind of drugs he was giving you. For Holy's sake, anyone would think you're crazy with the way you've been talking, raving on about sorceresses and that Time Compression junk!"

Irvine had been distracted by the itchy spot on his left arm again, and was busy taking his trench coat off when the words hit home. They had never heard of Sorceress Ultimecia or Time Compression or any of the major cities. And he had never heard of anything they had mentioned either.

"What the hell is goi"—He stopped his query as soon as he spotted the fairly large bandage on his left arm. His mind a mix of curiosity and fear, Irvine hesitantly peeled off the gauze bandage.

There was a tattoo on the bandaged spot. Roman numerals scrawled across his arm read, 'XVI,' the number sixteen. Confusion quickly turned to anger as he realized it must have been the Professor's work. _He branded me! The mother fucker branded me!_ Instead of voicing his thoughts, he let out a deep breath that he had been holding. 

"Aw, fuck," Cid cursed, "Another clone?"

"What?" Irvine demanded, on the verge of panic, "What am I? What kind of things did he do to me?"

Cait, his ears drooping sadly, gestured towards the mirror. "Look for yourself."

Irvine passed each of them a questioning glance before hesitantly moving from the bed to stand in front of the mirror. He gasped. His stare was met by twin green orbs, glowing fiercely, even in the sunlight. No wonder Yuffie and Cait had spotted him the other night. His eyes glowed like fireflies. _My eyes glow. My fucking eyes glow. What else did he do to me? Those enhanced abilities—seeing in the dark, hearing things far away—are they part of the Professor's experiment too?_ His memory of being Hojo's lab rat were blurry, but that part of it stuck out as much as his eyes glowed.

He turned to the four. "What the fuck is this?" he demanded angrily.

Yuffie looked around the group nervously. "Um, I thing we got to explain some things to you. Maybe Cloud knows about you. I don't know. Cait said he'd call soon, right Cait?"

"Yes," the cat nodded, "He seemed to know a lot about what's been going on. Hopefully he'll call and we'll set things straight."

Cid took a puff from his cigarette. "In the meantime, sit your ass back down on that bed, because explaining all of this'll take a while."

End Ch. 11 at 08.19.01.

Emerald's Stoopid Rant: Hey, you KNOW I had to put Cid in, right? There's no possible way I was gonna leave him outta the fic! Anyhow, since FF.net was down for so long, I took my time. If it ever goes down again and you wanna read more chapters, check out my webpage. Yes, I have one now. Just follow the link at my profile page!


	12. Phone Calls

"Transcending Reality" Chapter 12: Culture Shock Emerald Eyes Normal C. A. Valent 2 250 2001-10-22T02:46:00Z 2001-10-22T02:46:00Z 1 2506 14285 119 33 16758 10.2625 Clean Clean MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} 

"Transcending Reality"  by: Emerald Eyes 

"You create your own reality, and leave mine to me… leave mine to me!" –Bad Religion

Chapter Twelve: Phone Calls

"I really need some alcohol."

"I thought you were joking?"

"I was… but I changed my mind."

Alex sighed and tried to blink away the weariness at the edges of his blurred vision. It was around three o'clock in the morning. They had been following the same nondescript vehicle for nearly three hours nonstop.

Earlier, Reno's expertise as a Turk had led them to discover that Rufus was shoved carelessly into a black sedan that sped off in the opposite direction of the rest of the military force. Alex had reluctantly followed and, by following the Turk's instructions, had successfully avoided any unwanted encounters with the vehicle.

During the first half of the trip, Alex had gained a certain respect for the redheaded Turk. Reno was all-too-serious in the way he performed the task at hand. He had asked all the right questions about Earth, all the questions relevant to helping him successfully pull off the stunt he was secretly planning in his mind. No jokes, no alcohol, no incessant whining. Reno was NOTHING like the way fans seemed to stereotype him… or, at least that's what Alex had thought. It was around 1:30 AM when he started to change his mind. 

It was then that Reno had begun to perpetually bug him about every little nuance. Do you have a girlfriend? Is she hot? What's her bra size? Do you have a sister? Is she hot too? Hey! What'd I say!? Can we stop and get some beer? No? Why the hell not? I used to go on missions all the time when I was trashed! Do you have any cool vacation spots around here? What about that 'China' place? If the actual culture is as similar to Wutai as the food is, then I could spend about a month there… getting drunk, of course. Hey, do you think you can let me borrow some money? I want to see this China. Why not? Come on, Alex, I'll give you some gil so you can take a vacation in Costa del Sol. They have some really hot chicks there.

It was beginning to irritate him to no end.

"Well, can we at least stop at a 7-Eleven and get a Pepsi or a pack of Twinkies or something? I'm starving!" the redhead complained, "I haven't eaten since ten o'clock this evening, and that was only one leftover slice of cold pepperoni pizza I found in the back of the fridge."

Alex sighed contemptuously. "I don't think there's any 7-Elevens open this late. And besides," he reprimanded, "haven't you spent enough of my money? Sixty fucking dollars, Reno, in JUST ONE TRIP. What the hell did you buy?!"

Reno gave him a pleading look. "You REALLY want me to recite the items? I'm just warning you, this could take a while. Lets see…" He put his finger to his chin and stared up at the ceiling in mock contemplation. "…there was the jell-o vanilla pudding, the six-pack of Mountain Dew, the cherry-flavored Slushie, the M&Ms, the generic pack of chocolate chip cookies…" He stopped, his voice trailing off at the look the boy in the driver's seat was giving him.

"Just shut the fuck up," Alex deadpanned irately, "What the hell is it with you? Reno—you spend my money; you trash my apartment; you ask me all these annoying questions—and you expect me to take you seriously!?"

Reno sighed, all humor in his voice gone. "Sorry about all the prying questions. I was just trying to keep you awake for the past 3 hours. How 'bout you let me drive? I slept in until noon today. I'm wide awake, unlike SOMEONE."

"No," Alex retorted, his glaring eyes staring at the dark road ahead of him, "You can't drive. I don't want you to total my car too."

"Jeez. Have a little faith, will ya?" Reno mumbled, "I'm not THAT bad of a driver. If you won't let me drive, at least give me something useful to do…"

Alex glared at him for a minute before his eyes brightened. "Actually, yeah, there IS something useful for you to do.

^_^_^

Elena sighed and stared irritably down at her clothing. Her Turks uniform had gotten covered in dust while she and Rude had helped investigate the Theater District ruins. Hilda had offered to get her uniform cleaned up for her and she graciously accepted, but now she was beginning to regret it.

The big puffy dress she was currently wearing just wasn't her style, and it also got in the way. But she had to admit, the dress WAS pretty.  The material was of a dark blue multi-chrome silk, and the style was simple but elaborate. But whether she liked it or not, all Elena felt like doing at the moment was crawling under a rock and hiding her face from the world. 

Rude was on the other side of the room. He had also replaced his Turks suit for something more local. He stared at her from behind his dark sunglasses, and Elena could swear he was silently laughing at her.

She harrumphed and turned the other way, folding her arms across her chest, pouting. 

An incessant beeping noise echoed through the room a few moments later. Elena cocked her head to the side, listening to the peculiar sound. It sounded like Rude's PHS. But who could possibly be calling him? No one else in Gaia had a PHS except for Eiko, who currently had Reno's, but she was in plain sight of the blonde Turk. The girl was not using the PHS.

When Elena finally figured it out, she reprimanded herself sharply. Oh my god! It must be Reno calling! It HAS to be!

She let out a cry of joy and bounded over to the other side of the room, silently cursing the puffy dress that nearly made her trip along the way. She skidded to a halt in front of Rude, who curiously took out his PHS and answered with a hesitant, "Hello?"

A second later, the bald headed Turk's face lit up with a rare smile, confirming Elena's suspicions. "It's Reno, isn't it?" Elena demanded joyously, "I knew it! Turks always stick together!"

Rude nodded to her as he listened to Reno, and the rookie let out another cheer.

Elena stood impatiently by the PHS while Rude asked curious questions to answers she couldn't hear on the other side of the line. With each question, she became more impatient with some of the bizarre queries Rude was interrogating the redhead with. She was itching to speak with her fellow Turk.

Finally, she had her chance.

The first words out of her mouth were ones of concern. "Reno, where are you? Are you all right? I was worried."

"Heh," replied the redheaded Turk amusedly, "I'm fine, Elena. I'm just a little far from Rocket Town at the moment, as I imagine you are too." He sounded more than fine to Elena. In fact, he sounded as if he was actually enjoying himself, but a slight undertone of relief could be detected underneath the cocky façade.

"Reno, is it true? Is Sephiroth really alive again?"

"You've heard, huh?" He didn't sound like he was enjoying himself anymore. "I guess you've spoken to Eiko then." There was a muffled voice on the other side of the line, as if someone else was speaking, and then, "Did you meet Seifer yet?"

Elena gave a start. She had heard about this Seifer person. She had learned that rumors spread quickly around the castle. Apparently, a hot-tempered young man with a strange weapon he called a 'gunblade' had arrived late afternoon the other day. From what she had heard in bits and pieces of conversation, the boy had arrived with two other people: a boy and a girl both around his age. Rumors had spread quickly about other things too. Seifer claimed to know the mysterious assailant of the Theater District. He also demanded to know the details on the Sorceress's attack.

It would have been easy enough to find out. Rumors had spread about the mysterious Sorceress as well. One ecstatic woman had gone into detail on Ultimicia's appearance. It was said that the woman had a fair complexion even though her skin was a sickly hue of purple and her eyes a gleaming evil. It seemed as if the Sorceress had been beautiful once, but that was no more. Something had obviously happened to upset the balance. Maybe it was just her imagination, but this Ultimicia person sounded a lot like Jenova.

"I haven't met the guy yet, but I know he's around." She hesitated. "There's been some kind of commotion caused by a Sorceress Ultimicia. I've heard that this Seifer guy has something to do with her."

"Yeah…" the redhead replied absently, and caught himself, "…wait a minute. Ultimicia is ALIVE!?"

Elena held the PHS several inches from her ear as she listened to the redhead's curses with a perplexed look on her face. After it appeared the paroxysm was over, she moved the PHS back into place.

She heard the unidentified voice again—Reno was arguing with it.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me!?" 

"Forget that!" the voice screamed, "How the fuck do you know who Ultimicia is!?"

"I played Final Fantasy VIII!" Reno retorted. Elena recognized that tone of voice: it was the voice he used whenever he came into work half-drunk; the voice he used whenever he wanted to annoy the hell out of someone; it was the voice nobody wanted to hear.

The other person sighed, annoyed. Reno was succeeding in pissing him off. "Shit! You really don't know how bad this is, do you, Reno? There's been some news from Hojo: Ultimicia is Jenova." 

"WHAT!?" Elena and Reno said in unison.

"Holy shit! Is this a joke?" Reno asked pensively. Elena didn't hear the response, but she guessed it wasn't.

"Reno?" She asked in a shaky voice, "What's going on" She knew absolutely nothing.

"Elena," she heard him sigh, the tone of his voice now sober, "It's a very long story. I can't tell you it right now, but I promise I'll explain it to you later. As of right now, I've got to break into a top-secret government installation and rescue Rufus."

"Rufus is alive!?" He'd lost her. She had absolutely no clue what was going on. "Reno, what in the name of Holy are you up to?"

"I got to go, Elena. Catch you later." It was typical of Reno to avoid her questions.

"Reno, wait!"

It was too late. The Turk had already hung up the phone. Elena sighed and pressed the 'end' button. "Damn."

^_^_^

The trip in the car was silent after the phone call to the other Turks. Reno's ecstatic mood was soon replaced by a glum, lifeless stare. Jenova was alive… I'm only a Turk. I kill people, not aliens. What can I do about it?

As if to tell him there was no use worrying about it if nothing could done, Alex broke the silence and shattered Reno's thoughts. "How do you plan on pulling off this grand stunt of yours?" The azure-eyed boy tried mocking him, but his heart just wasn't in it. The boy had probably brought up memories he wasn't ready to fact at the moment.

Yes, Reno thought, It's real. Jenova… Sephiroth… ME… We're ALL real. And so is the danger. He looked over at Alex, who was gazing sullenly out the front window as if he had never asked the question. I don't really blame him if he's scared shitless. I would be too if I realized characters from a videogame were popping up left and right… and one of them had the power to drop a meteor on our heads. He shivered in spite of himself. It wasn't because he had thought of meteor—he had been through that before—it was the fact that he unconsciously referred to himself as… I am NOT a character from a videogame, he finished stubbornly, glaring at Alex as if it were all his fault. "I need some ID… something to identify me as FBI or CIA or something."

Alex stared at him, unblinking. "Do you think it's just going to pop out of nowhere?" he deadpanned, "Welcome to real life."

Outwardly, Reno's face remained calm and placid, but on the inside he lost what little patience he still had. "I didn't ask you for it!" he growled menacingly. This was what was so unbearable about the kid. Some drastic situation would take place, and the Turk would prove himself worthy of the respect of a decent human being, and then moments later all would be forgotten and he'd be treated like a child, an nonentity, a… a videogame character. "I know where to get it from…"

And without another word he reached for the cell phone and dialed the number to the only person he was sure could pull it off…

Reeve. No one in the Turks had had the skills and experience needed with high-tech computer equipment. Elena was the closest person they had to an expert, but even she was nothing compared to Reeve. The man, who was supposedly head of Development, had helped them on countless missions, hacking into files and cracking codes that Elena couldn't even begin to comprehend. But Reeve, being the closest thing to a pacifist Reno had ever known, would never dream of joining the Turks. Instead, the head of Development had stayed at his current position and was indirectly involved in many of the dangerous endeavors the Turks were assigned to. The man was a pure genius, more intelligent than anything Reno could imagine.

His thoughts cut off as the phone began to ring. Sooner than he expected—before the first ring ended, to be exact—the phone was answered by a frantic voice. "Hello? Cloud?"

Reno cracked up at Reeve's anxious ignorance. "No," he said, trying to keep all evidence of humor out his voice, "not exactly."

The other man's voice grew suspicious. "Who is this?"

Not bothering to give a name, the redhead responded, "Reeve, I need some fake ID—something to get me into a high-security government facility."

"Wha…?" the little man sounded baffled, "Is this a… a Turk!?"

"Yeah! It's Reno!" His face broke out into another grin, "I need to break Rufus out of some top secret military base." His smile broadened as he heard Reeve choke on his breath.

"What!? Rufus is ALIVE!?"

Alex looked quizzically at the Turk and the redhead gestured apologetically to the phone, covering the mouthpiece so Reeve couldn't hear. "Reeve," he said with a smirk, "He's taking it a little hard." For the first time that night Alex broke into a smile and laughed, however, the mirth was cut short. 

Reno's smile slowly turned into a pensive frown. The road wound around a copse of trees and revealed a high chain-linked fence complete with a lacing of barbed wire on the top. The redhead's jade gaze followed the fence a ways up the road until it stopped upon the brightly lit main entrance.

The vehicle they were following was stopped in front of the gate, the driver speaking to one of the armed guards. After several minutes of unheard conversation the guard went into the tiny booth beside the gate. Several seconds later the gates began to open inward. As soon as the black car pulled through, the gates immediately began to close again.

"Damn," Alex cursed, shifting the car into reverse and driving it back around the bend into the seclusion of the trees. He hoped no one had spotted them.

Reno sighed nervously and said, "I hope this works. Are you sure you just can't use that gizmo of yours to transport me into the building?"

They had been through this conversation a million times before, and Reno nearly had the answer memorized. "A bright light, Reno. Don't you think that'll be a little bit too obvious? I know they have UFOs and alien abduction and stuff going on in there, but I still think it'll be…" he trailed off when the redhead didn't find his humor at all funny.

It wasn't funny. Reno didn't know the slightest bit of information about the place. He didn't know how to act, how to look. Ignorance could kill. He had a right to be nervous. 

"Reeve, where are you?" he asked into the phone.

"I'm at an inn in Junon," the voice replied with a hint of confusion.

"We'll be there in a second," Reno told the man on the phone.

"What?" Reeve replied, baffled, "How? Where are you now?"

Reno ended the conversation, unwilling to talk to the man any longer. Alex was looking at him expectantly, waiting for his plans. Before they did anything, the car needed to be moved to a more secure location. They didn't want to come back from their trip only to find out they've been discovered.

"Let's get the hell out of here," the redhead ordered. As he said it he let a slight smile slip onto his face. He was going home.

END CH. 12 AT 10.17.01.

Okay. I'm sorry it's so short. And I'm also sorry it took me almost double the time it usually does to get it posted. It's been a hard adjustment, with school and all (not that it's hard… why should it be? it's my senior year! ^_^). It's just that I have to get used to giving up 6 hours. And there's the fact that I've been working on my webpage, and that also takes a lot of time. But… hear me now: THE HIATUS IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!! This means that you should expect chapters up sooner now that I'm all good. ^_^ In fact, I've already started the next chapter, "The Madness." And what about those reviews, people! I haven't gotten any for the last chapter! What's up with that? Aren't there any Irvine fans out there!? –Emerald


	13. The Madness

"Transcending Reality"  by: Emerald Eyes 

"Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal. Fear is how I fall, confusing what is real." –Linkin Park

^_^_^ 

Chapter Thirteen: The Madness

Irvine watched absently as the strange people from the light gathered around Reeve's computer. They had apparently known him somehow…. or, at least the black-haired one did. He reacted with surprise at finding him at the inn in Junon. He had been even more surprised at finding mako gleaming in his eyes. 

One of the others quickly explained the situation for him—Irvine didn't feel like doing the talking. 

Irvine had discovered that the black-haired boy—Alex—could do a lot with that peculiar device that brought him here. According to the boy, Reeve's computer was hooked up to the internet—apparently the internet from his dimension, wherever that was. Reeve had hacked into the government's top-secret files and was searching for a way to put Reno's name in the database. 

"Heh," Reeve bragged, "Piece of cake." Irvine had guessed the man hadn't expected it to be as easy as it was. "After ShinRa's tight security, this was next to nothing."

ShinRa. Shinra? Wasn't that the name of the guy they were going to rescue? Irvine didn't know a lot about this new world, but he intended to find out one way or another…

^_^_^

Reno sat next to Alex, looking over the information on the screen. Reeve exaggerated when he said the security wasn't tight. These guys were almost as bad as ShinRa, possibly even worse. He didn't know if he could do it. He never had to infiltrate anything at this scale before. The Turks worked for ShinRa, and nothing was better than that. It was going to be hard.

Looking up from the screen, he noticed everyone looking at him, including the weird Sephiroth-clone, Irvine. "What?" He said, throwing suspicious glances around the room.

"Dude, you look like shit," Alex said wryly.

"So?!" the redhead replied reproachfully.

"So," Reeve explained, "no one's going to believe you're one of these 'Men in Black' if you waltz in there dressed like a slum-drunk."

They were grinning at him voraciously, a wicked glint in both of their eyes. "What the hell are you two suggesting?"

^_^_^

In a quiet place, in a backwater farm town several miles from Blackwood, there was an old abandoned house. The house was a typical run-of-the-mill giant dilapidated country farmhouse, complete with rotting shingles and a porch on all four sides. There was one thing, however, that WASN'T typical of the place…

Lying on the top floor in the hallway made of rotting wood was a man. He looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s. Short locks of silver hair fell into his aquamarine eyes, currently squeezed tight against the pain.

Agony marred his handsome face, distorting it beyond recognition. He was weak. It happened every time Jenova used her powers through him. Her control over him had let up for the moment: that happened occasionally, at times when Jenova was busying herself with something else.

For the first time in a long time, he was actually aware of his actions, emotions, and surroundings. The last thing he remembered…

//…it was somewhere cold. The glow of mako was all around him. The presence in his mind was gone! Or was it? He felt it in his mind like a sickly death, lying dormant… but not gone.

He didn't care if it was gone or not. A man was coming at him with a sword, malice and contempt flashing in his eyes. Recognition quickly came into those aquamarine mako eyes as he stared into bright blue ones. It was the boy from the trip to Nibelheim… his last memory before the ones in progress now. The boy had been so young and naïve. What had he done on that trip to turn this boy against him? 

He cringed at the thought. He didn't want to know what evils the monster inside of him had committed.

The boy slashed at him, blood poured from his wounds, and he just stood there. Dying was better than anything he deserved. At least in death he would be free of the malevolent force that had wrecked havoc on his psyche.

Slash after slash came until he fell, so near to death that he would be considered dead by most already… beyond the healing powers of any Phoenix Down. And the spiky-haired boy just left him there while the place came crashing down all around.

And then there was a light… and then there was only darkness…//

A noise brought him out of his reverie. Footsteps could be heard rhythmically ascending the stairs. Someone was coming. //Holy, no. Not now!// It wasn't supposed to work like this. No one was supposed to find him. He didn't want to harm anyone anymore.

A girl appeared at the top of the steps: a teenaged girl, probably about 17 or 18 years of age. She had a wild array of spiky purple hair and the strangest outfit he had ever seen: a tight fitting green hoodie over a black t-shirt and short plaid skirt. The outfit was complete with combat boots. The girl had a variety of things pierced on her and she wore an excessive amount of dark makeup, accenting her pale skin. From the way some of it streaked down her face, it looked as if she was crying. She reminded him of one of those punks he used to see hanging around the Midgar slums.

The girl paused midway into the hallway, studying him with something in between shock and fear. She dropped the brown paper bag she was holding. It clattered to the floor, the substance inside the bottle that was concealed within leaked onto the rotting floor. Alcohol, no doubt. The girl looked like the kind of person that would be in to that stuff.

"You…" she said barely above a whisper, her voice like saccharin spoiled with antipathy, "You're that guy from the news, that dude who totaled that entire town!"

"Yes," he managed to reply in a strained voice, trying to concentrate on anything tangible. So this was what he did this time… destroy a town. What next? "Now please leave me…"

The girl's fear vanished and she frowned, tilting her head curiously at him. "You're hurt, aren't you?"

He glared at her. Why was she still here? Did she WANT to die? "Yes, I am hurt," he whispered, "But there is nothing you can do. My pain comes from the mind."

She studied him some more with intelligent eyes, examining his soul, it seemed. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she took a cigarette out of her hoodie's pocket and lit up. "You didn't want to do it, did you?"

He blinked at her. How did she know? "I would have prevented it if I could have," he said. Tears were in his eyes now. The pain was too great to bear. //A whole town? God…// 

She smiled at him—smiled! "You don't look like the kind of person who would kill an innocent person—let alone a whole town." 

He did something he could never remember doing before—he laughed. The mirth faded immediately as he thought of Jenova. If she took over his body again, the girl would surely die. "Listen… you can't stay here… I'll kill you. I don't want to, but it will happen."

Instead of heeding his advice, she sat down on the ground next to him. "I'm Samantha," she greeted, "You can go ahead and talk to me. I know what it's like to have problems. I have plenty of my own. We both need help—maybe we can help each other?"

"Samantha, please listen to me…"

"What's on your mind?" she cut him off. She stared at him intently with those intelligent blue eyes. She brushed black-lacquered nails through her purple hair, blonde at the roots where her natural color was growing back in.

For some reason he found himself giving in to her, telling her everything, starting with his name…

^_^_^

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Reno complained, "I'm going to fuckin' kill you!"

They were all cracking up—the whole lot of them! Alex was lying on the floor, his eyes wet from all the humor. Reeve was only faring a little bit better, the cat on his shoulder nearly falling off. Yuffie was teasing him in between giggles, and Irvine wore a small mocking smile. Cid… now Cid was the worst.

"This is fucking great!" the surly pilot mocked, "Where's a camera when you need one."

Reno glowered.

"You look like a fucking pretty-boy. Hell, if I didn't know it was you I'd mistake you for Rufus!"

The redhead didn't want to do it, but he knew it was necessary if he wanted to pull this off. His rumpled blue Turks suit was replaced by a neater black one. The jacket was neatly pressed, the shirt tucked in, and a tie was around his neck. It took him several times to tie it perfectly. He hadn't worn a tie in so long. His old boots were also replaced with the proper shoes to be worn with the suit, but that wasn't the worst of it. His unkempt long hair was now cut much shorter, and combed neat into place. An unruly fiery lock of hair fell into his vision from behind his sunglasses. This was ridiculous.

"I hope you're happy," Reno addressed the party. If his electro-rod wasn't on the nightstand across the room, he would have used it by now. Unusual weapons like that were more than likely prohibited on the compound, and if they weren't, the nightstick would probably make him look suspicious. The last thing he needed was to stand out. Instead, if anything should happen, he had to rely on his gun. He hoped it wouldn't have to come to that. Reno and guns didn't mix too well.

"Oh, trust me," Yuffie burst out, "This is VERY amusing. I'm getting a kick out of it!"

//Why bother,// he thought. "So… are we going to go or not?"

Alex raised an eyebrow at him before tossing him the 'dimension-hopper,' as Reno had dubbed it. "YOU'RE going… I'm not."

Reno stared at him blankly. "What?"

"I'm staying here. I want to find out exactly what's up with Hojo." With that he tossed Reno the device and briefly showed him how to use it.

^_^_^

Samantha studied the man curiously. He //was// the man from the news, but judging by the way he was acting, there was no way they could possibly be the same person. She and Sephiroth (what a strange name!) could relate to each other in almost every way. 

"I never knew my mother—my //real// mother," Sephiroth said, a bit of emotion touching his voice, "She died right after my birth. But I heard that she was very beautiful."

Samantha grunted amusedly. "At least you knew who your parents were—even if your dad //was// an asshole. I don't even know who I am. I was adopted when I was little. I don't remember a thing about where I came from."

"You don't like your foster parents?" Sephiroth inquired.

"What!? No. I LOVE my parents, it's just that…. I don't know." She shrugged. "I just get curious.

"I have a brother," she said with a smile, "His name is Alex—Alexander Thomas Sloan. He's off at college this year. He's like a my best friend. We might as well be siblings—we're certainly close enough."

"You seem pretty happy," Sephiroth said, "So why are you out in the middle of nowhere with a bottle of—what was it called? Jack Daniels?—and a pack of cigarettes?"

Her smile faded. "I haven't heard from my brother in over two weeks."

Sephiroth frowned confusedly. "Maybe he's just tied up with school. Does he have exams soon? That could be enough to make him forget. It's certainly easy enough."

"No! You don't understand," Samantha explained, "NO ONE'S heard from him! Not my parents or relatives, and not even his friends—they say he hasn't been showing up for classes. The only person who knew anything was his roommate in his apartment near the campus. Now, I could have //sworn// he said that guy was going of a trip to Japan for one for one of his classes, but I guess I was mistaken."

"And what did he say?"

"He said that Alex was gone and it would probably be a while until he got back." She shot an ambiguous look at Sephiroth. "He said he was supposed to let the phone ring and the machine pick it up, but he said there wasn't any fun in THAT."

Sephiroth stared at her with glassy eyes, not really comprehending what she was saying. He had a sick insane look in his eyes that reminded her of the person that destroyed Blackwood. "Go… away!" He screeched in a pained voice, and Samantha obeyed. Whatever had mad him destroy that town was coming back.

Before she had a chance to reach the steps a commanding, cold voice said, "Stop." She froze, not because she was ordered to, but because a sword was pressed to her throat. The man had moved with lightning speed, and he was upon her before she had even realized he'd moved. 

Sephiroth was smirking down at her mockingly, his beautiful aquamarine eyes twinkling in the eerie light. "Mother says she knows your brother," he spoke in a strange detatched manner. This wasn't the //real// Sephiroth, not the one she knew. "Apparently he's trying to hinder mother's plans. I was going to kill you, but Mother has something else in mind…"

^_^_^

Jenova had let Sephiroth's mind wander for too long, and as a result he had befriended an ignorant girl, too innocent to realize the magnitude of the situation she had gotten herself into. 

Jenova had what she wanted from her other lackey in Treno. Hojo had made her task much easier with his creation of the "clones." Although the boy from Galbadia couldn't ever fully be controlled, no one even suspected the one in Treno. In fact, everyone thought he was dead…

END CH. 13 AT 12.01.01.

Okay…. finally got a plot for the peeps in the FF9 world… and a good one at that! Stay tuned for the next chapter, "What Happened in Treno…"


	14. In Treno

**"Transcending Reality" by _Emerald Eyes_**

_"You and I in a little toy shop buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got. Set them free at the break of dawn 'til one by one, they were gone. Back at base, bugs in the software flash the message 'Something's out there!' Floating in the summer sky, 99 red balloons go by…" –Goldfinger _

^_^_^

**_Chapter Fourteen: In Treno_**

In the coldness of the night Treno was left unhindered. Treno was a city that never slept. Constantly, people were about: all ages, shapes, sizes, and species.

Treno was the city of nobles, fascinating in all its glory; magnificent in its beauty; breathtaking in its splendor. The city was great, the city was grand… but there was nothing noble about it.

Like all big cities that housed the rich, it also housed the poor. The poor lived in the slums, the ruthless part of this grand, wonderful city. In here: the cutthroats, the harlots, the pimps and the whores.

This city of Treno was not all that different from Midgar. In all its mako-illuminated awe, there lay a dark underside. The odd comparison placed a bizarre comfort around Elena; the city was in such a bad condition, yet it reminded her so much of home. Granted, there were still those uncanny differences, but a Midgar nonetheless.

Ahead of her, the man who called himself Blank led the way into the heart of the city. He was apparently a member of 'Tantalus,' whatever that was. He looked like a street rat, but according to Eiko and a few other reliable sources, he was trustworthy. Since it was assumed that the strangers would be spending a fair amount of time in this world, Hilda and Cid had suggested they get acquainted with it.

The group had taken a trip to Treno, their guides a bunch of ragtag Tantalus members. Seifer and his posse found something interesting in the card game held in the building at the center of town, and Rude had found the local bar. Now it was only her and Blank. Blank was a young, wiry fellow with flame-red hair that stuck up in every direction.

After what seemed like only a few minutes they arrived at a stone plaza high above most of the city. Behind the paving stones stood a large building made of the same type of grayish brick as the plaza was.

Blank gestured to the looming structure and announced their arrival. "Here we are, Lady Elena: the Auction House."

Elena groaned inwardly. "Lady" Elena was something she'd have to get used to. She didn't like the title at all. It was one of those unlikely byproducts of wearing the expensive dresses the castle had provided for her—everyone thought she was a Noble! She had given up on correcting people. Blank still called her "Lady" no matter how many times she said otherwise. 

Instead of complaining, Elena put on an ingratiating smile. She wanted to see the Auction House and no nonsense name was going to spoil it for her!

With a confirming nod of her head, Blank pulled back on the metal handle of the great wooden door before them. The Turk's auburn eyes filled with unfeigned delight when the scene beyond greeted her.

"Oh, wow!"

^_^_^

Seifer frowned at the girl before him. The dark-skinned, orange-haired girl's expression revealed nothing on the type of cards she held. He was losing, and he didn't see why.

He had been playing a card games for just as long as she, and his face revealed what type of cards he had just as less as she, but the girl always seemed to guess.

He put down the only card he had left—a rendering of Shiva with a fair amount of arrows on it. He was surprised find out that this world had any type of Guardian Forces at all, let alone Shiva.

The girl revealed a winning smile, a foreshadowing of her victory, and laid down a card with a picture of some kind of beetle on it… and arrows on every side possible. She let out a giggle. "I win!" She immediately went for his Behemoth card with the most arrows.

"Hey! No fair!" He hadn't won a card game yet and it was beginning to nerve him to no end. The girl only found his temper amusing, and skipped out of the room joyfully.

Sighing regretfully, Seifer began gathering up his remaining cards (which diminished quite quickly over the past hour). He decided to quit while he still had his Shiva card. The trinket had become a sort of good luck charm over the past few days, even though it failed to work the majority of the time. He had picked it out when he won his first card game against Eiko.

It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness as he stepped outside into the cool night air. Raijin and Fujin were over by the pond on the edge of the paving stones. There was a ring of curious bystanders around the couple and Raijin was wet, he resolved with a pang of curiosity. Raijin was sitting on the gray stones with a hand rubbing the side of his head painfully, and he was shivering furiously in the cold. Fujin was standing over him with a concerned look on her face, demanding to know if he was all right. 

Seifer's gaping stare turned into a dead run towards the crowd. //If something happened to them…// he frantically pushed people aside as he fought to reach his friends in the center.

As he broke through the throng, Raijin and Fujin stared at him with incredulous looks. It took a moment for Seifer to realize that he had the most stupefying look on his face. He quickly rid himself of it. //Stupid fool!// He scolded himself, //Raijin probably just fell into the water by accident, being the moron that he is.// Had he overreacted? He decided to ask what happened anyways. "What's going on?"

"Someone shot some kind of powerful magic spell at me, you know?" Raijin answered.

"What!?" Okay. So maybe he hadn't overreacted.

"They were just standing there one minute," one of the bystanders commented, "and the next, that young fellow had to dodge a bolt of fire."

Fujin nodded. "AFFIRMATIVE."

Seifer tried to find his voice again. The only person who'd want to kill any of them would be Ultimecia. Dreading the answer, the asked, "Did you see who did it?"

Raijin averted his eyes from Seifer's penetrating gaze and Fujin just hung her head. "…no…" she whispered.

He sighed and looked around the courtyard desolately as if that itself could reveal the answer. Above, on a terrace atop the building, a man garbed all in black stared down at the scene. At least, he THOUGHT it was a man. There really was no way to tell; the cowl of his midnight cloak was pulled up, hiding his face in shadows. The only thing that penetrated the featureless void was a pair of glowing green eyes.

Seifer shivered as the man walked away. There were some strange species in this world… very strange indeed!

"I think we should go find the others," he whispered, his eyes still glued on the spot where the shadowy figure had been.

^_^_^

Rude downed another glass of the potent liquid the barmaid had called "Magefire" and focused his wavering stare on the creature before him. The tavern was dark, lit only by the dull flickering lamplight, yet the bald Turk refused to take off his sunglasses.

Even though his vision was impaired by the near darkness of the room and the lens in his glasses, he was more than certain the creature wasn't human.

It stared at him from underneath the brim of its helmet. He stared back in a perfect imitation of her silence.

Finally growing tired of the strange creature's stares, he downed the last of his Magefire and prepared to leave the murky darkness of the tavern. As he was leaving the creature finally spoke. "Who are you?"

Rude stopped dead in his tracks. It talked. He had been in this strange world enough to know that anything was possible, but this was just too strange. He turned around to face the creature.

"I've never seen you in here before. Who are you?" it asked again in a feminine voice. Yes, he was almost certain now: it was female.

"I'm new here," Rude replied simply and intended to leave thereafter. But the strange rat-creature wouldn't give up so easily.

She followed him out the door. "You're new here? What city did you come from?"

"Lindblum," he lied, trying to get rid ob the menace. He didn't understand how such a creature could keep quiet for so long and then suddenly start jabbing worse than Elena.

"Lindblum?" the creature inquired a bit morbidly, "I know some people from that city. There was a boy named Zidane Tribal. He… he died saving Gaia not too long ago." In a heartbeat her brooding mood dissipated, and she asked cheerily, "Perhaps you knew him?"

"No," Rude replied, clenching his teeth. His patience was wearing thin.

"Oh," the creature replied a bit sadly. Perhaps the girl—if in fact that's what it was—had finally picked up on his mood. Leaving the creature standing in the middle of the boardwalk behind him, Rude headed off towards the auction house to find Elena.

He didn't like Treno.

^_^_^

Elena was currently eyeing up a beautiful topaz necklace that the noble dressed in silk up by the podium was holding up for auction. "Whoa," she commented, "It's beautiful!"

Blank smiled at her and asked, "Would you like to own it?"

"Why of course I would, but—"

"500 Gil!" Blank yelled out before she could protest. The auctioneer confirmed the bid right before an onslaught of higher bids were voiced.

"What are you doing!?" Elena screeched. 

"I'm getting you that necklace," he replied matter-of-factly before adding, "1000 Gil!" The bids kept on coming.

"But it's too expensive!" Elena argued back.

"Lady Elena, I'm a member of Tantalus. NOTHING's expensive… 1500 Gil!" The bids stopped, and to Elena's dread, Blank happened to get the highest bid on the topaz crystal.

Blank smiled seductively at her before he fastened the chain around her neck. It was then that Elena realized what he was trying to do all along. //Oh, brother,// she thought, //The guy's coming on to me!//

Elena forced a polite smile and then inconspicuously tried to inch away from the boy. Much to her dismay, Blank noticed. "Lady Elena?"

"I think I should go find my friends," she lied. Any excuse was worth getting away from Blank. The boy reminded her of a teenaged version of Reno!

She felt the boy shrug behind her. "Whatever the Lady wishes."

Whenever she turned towards the entrance, the doors opened to reveal a figure garbed in black from head to toe, no features distinguishable beneath the cowl of its hood. A gust of cold winter breeze brought in from outside blew back its hood enough for her to notice one feature: the eyes. Those haunting green eyes stared back at the room, passed over her, and then settled on the podium where another item was currently up for bid.

Elena held her breath. The glowing eyes reminded her undoubtedly of Sephiroth. All common sense told her he wasn't. The figure was too short and lanky to even resemble the man, but the eyes still freaked her out. "//Don't act so weak!//" Reno's words echoed in her mind. Immediately her downcast eyes forced themselves to look the creature in its haunting eyes. She lifted her chin in a defiant way and sniffed haughtily. //I am NOT weak! I am a Turk!//

Her gaze followed the creature as it passed by her and joined the confusing mass of anxious bidders. Elena ran her hand across her hip. Outwardly she appeared to be smoothing her dress, but she had her gun hidden beneath a light blue silk shawl she had tied around her waist.

The item, a lovely, ornate mirror, had just been sold for 10,000 gil. The noble in the silk jacket reached behind him to grab the next item. When he turned around he was holding a small, smooth, cylindrical black object. The shiny object glistened and glittered in the flickering firelight of the room. The black item produced several awed comments from the crowd, and bidding started up again with more vigor than ever.

"Now would you look at that," Blank said admiringly after he noticed Elena staring at the object.

Elena's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened to the size of Huge Materia. The black, tiny, marble-like stone couldn't be what she thought it was—she'd remember that materia anywhere—the Black Materia.

The person in the black cloak she was having such bad vibes about was the most vigorous bidder of all. Suddenly it all clicked.

She grabbed hold of Blank's arm tightly, her eyes glued on the Black Materia. "I want it," she whispered threateningly. 

Blank's eyes lit up considerably at the mere chance of making a score until he saw the deadliness in her eyes. "10,000 gil!" He yelled out to the crowd. He smiled at her in that lascivious way of his. Elena rolled her eyes. The boy still thought he had a chance with her if he won her heart with expensive objects. "15,000 gil!"

The black cloaked man was persistent.

Before long blank was checking the gil in his pocket and throwing disconcerting stares at Elena when he thought she wasn't looking. The price was steadily increasing.

The cloaked man placed a bid for 48,000 gil. The once bustling room was silent. The noble in silk asked for any more bids.

"Blank," Elena whispered harshly, warning him of his mistake.

"But…" The look she gave him made him change his mind about what he was going to say. "49,000 gil!"

The cloaked man immediately bid for fifty.

Blank gave Elena an exasperated stare.

"Blank, I NEED that item."

"Damn it, Lady, are you crazy!?" Blank snapped, "I'm out of gil and that guy's determined! You're not going to get it. Your stubbornness doesn't change a thing, so you might as well give up."

Elena was about to retort to the words but Blank was right. She wasn't going to get the Black Materia with gil. Wincing, she watched as the noble handed the priceless talisman of destruction over to the man in the cloak.

As the figure reached the door Elena reached for her gun. In a flash the weapon was in her hand and aimed right between the glowing eyes of the Materia's owner.

Sephiroth—or whoever the cloaked figure happened to be—had good reflexes. He must have anticipated her plan of attack because he dogged the bullet that came speeding from the barrel of her gun.

In the countless milliseconds after the bullet shattered into the wall, the shady figure was out the door and on the streets in mere moments. Elena was hot on his tail, chasing him through the crowd of stunned people.

"Lady Elena!" Blank pleaded, pushing through the crowd behind her, "what are you doing!? What IS that thing!?"

She didn't know whether the boy was referring to her gun or the Black Materia, but it didn't matter. She had no time to be burdened down by a clueless kid. "Stay down," she ordered once they got out into the open. The man was nowhere in sight. Wherever he was, he couldn't have gone far. She began searching the surrounding area.

"Lady Elena, what in the name of Gaia is going on!?"

Elena was about to order the ignorant boy to shut up when three people walked around the corner. It was Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin.

Raijin turned irate once he spotted the two. "Hey guys! Did you know that some guy tried to kill—"

"QUIET," Fujin ordered. She had been more observant and had noticed Elena's awkward position against the wall with her weapon drawn.

"Go with them," Elena demanded to Blank as she nodded to the group, "Stay out of sight. Tell Seifer to come here."

Blank surprisingly obeyed, and the group, minus Seifer, went back around the corner. Seifer quickly sprinted over to Elena's hiding spot. "What's going on?" he whispered. His hand was precariously gripping the hilt of his gunblade.

"I'm looking for a man in a black cloak with glowing eyes. It's no matter what he did—I'll explain later—just keep your eyes peeled."

Seifer's breath caught in his throat. Elena didn't expect the reaction, coming from her nondescript profile, but apparently Seifer had had a run-in with the man.

She scanned the surrounding area while Seifer occupied the shadowy corners. A few minutes passed, maybe more, but it seemed like hours—with no results.

Elena stood outside the doorway in the faint glow of the lamps. Snow had begun to fall, adding a distinct chill to the night. She sighed in exasperation and her breath curled around her face. The man must have escaped while no one was looking—that had to be it. They should have found him by now, otherwise.

The incessant sound of Seifer irritably tapping his gunblade against the stone wall made an odd beat that mingled with the distant sound of crowds from other parts of the city. A dog barked in the distance, and a flag was flapping in the wind… or should be. Elena wasn't sure, but she could nearly distinctly remember there NOT being a flag atop the auction house. She frowned. The noise almost sounded like… //A cloak! It's the guy with they eyes!//

Elena spun to look on top of the building, but it was already too late. A flying mass of black cloth and a pair of glowing eyes were heading right for her. She tried to raise her gun in time (she was not weak!) but it was already too late.

She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she heard her own terror-filled scream before she blacked out.

^_^_^

Seifer tapped his gunblade on the side of the cold wall of the auction house methodically as he pondered about the man with the eerie eyes. He didn't witness it, but he was willing to bet any fair amount of gil that he was the one that tried to kill Raijin.

A puff of warm air clouded in front of Seifer as he exhaled heavily. They hadn't found the man in any of the surrounding area. No doubt the guy was already halfway across the city by now.

Seifer looked up through a snow-filled haze and saw Elena staring up at the roof in wide-eyed terror. Only then did he notice a familiar black-cloaked figure descending upon her.

Seifer dashed towards her as her ear-piercing scream filled the frigid night air. In mere moments he had his gunblade poised to strike.

The figure wasted no time. As soon as Elena was knocked unconscious, he lashed out in a mad run for the ledge on the other side of the paving stones. Midway, he turned, and the strong winter winds blew the hood of his cape back. Seifer stopped dead in his tracks and stared. Unkempt flaxen hair framed a young face, the haunting green eyes looking out of place on such innocence. He looked to be about 15… 16 at the latest. He was hardly more than a boy!

"Zidane!" an ecstatic feminine voice exclaimed. Seifer was too preoccupied to care. With the threat of the caped man--_boy_--temporarily out of the way, he ran to Elena's shivering unconscious form.

He scooped her up in his arms and started off in the general direction of his posse… and he paused in mid-step. 

Rude was watching the scene behind his implacable sunglasses. He appeared to be passive, but by the way his hand was casually resting on his gun, Seifer judged the man was ANYTHING but relaxed.

Behind the placid Turk, a bizarre-looking creature appeared to be observing the scene with shock. "That… that was Zidane!" the creature said in shock.

Rude looked at her—yes, the rat-thing WAS a her—and said stonily, "You know him." It was not a question, but it appeared that was about the only thing that wasn't. Who was this Zidane character and why was he trying to kill them? Where was Ultimecia? What in Hyne's name did he get himself into?

END CH. 14 AT 02.13.02.

EMERALD'S RANT~~~ Well… just finished writing this down in a notebook in my school last period, and I'm glad. I've been SO sick of this chapter, mainly because I've been working on it for so long. But I AM fairly proud of it. The idea came to me on a caprice late one night, and I'm thankful for it. I knew I wanted to take advantage of the idea that Zids was missing at the end of FF9, but I didn't know what I wanted to do.

EMERALD'S EXCUSE~~~ My sincerest apologies for this chapter arriving so late. My computer got sick. :o( Thankfully, the virus didn't infect word documents, but it DID burden me down some. Thanks for being patient. Stay tuned for the next chapter (which will be out in a shorter period of time).


	15. The Ethereal Project

"Transcending Reality" by Emerald Rose Blackthorn (aka~~ Emerald Eyes)  
  
"Sometimes I only remember the days when I was young. Nowadays no one remembers when they were young and stupid (the way you like it)." --Adema  
  
^_^_^  
  
Chapter Fifteen: The Ethereal Project  
  
They waited in the dank basement of the house. Hojo had not been back, although everyone knew he would come. He never abandoned any of his specimens.  
  
Cid was waiting in the dungeon-like environment with Alex, patiently smoking a cigarette. Yuffie was back at the inn watching over Irvine. The boy had wanted to come too, but everyone had agreed that seeing Hojo wasn't the best thing for him at the moment. The incident may repress his recently recovered memories again. Reeve and Cait had gone back to the project they were working on before the Irvine debacle, although they promised to keep an eye out for anything unusual. Alex would have gone alone into the Professor's lair, but he had never used a weapon in his life-and God knows how dangerous the half-insane Professor could be. Cid handled the Venus Gospel well, and offered to come along in case his expertise was needed.  
  
It wasn't actually long before they heard Hojo at the door. At first, Alex had thought he had already visited the house and discovered the empty specimen cage. No doubt the Professor would have fled as soon as possible with the knowledge that he'd been discovered. But all this information? A scientist wouldn't leave his experiments behind. Hojo would be back-and he was.  
  
The emaciated Professor entered the basement carrying glass containers full of mako and other bizarre scientific paraphernalia. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted the two intruders standing in the basement.  
  
"Why, hell, Professor. You look surprised," Cid remarked.  
  
Hojo quickly countered with a vitriolic remark. "I don't even need to search for specimens. They just come waltzing in." He went about putting the canisters on the shelves on the wall, treating the intruders as if they were well known friends and expected guests.  
  
"Cut the shit," Alex replied, "Why me? Why give this little invention of yours to ME?"  
  
"Ah," Hojo replied, "I knew you'd ask sooner or later." He went around to a different shelf and started searching around for something. "Your world is very interesting, Alexander. There are lots of scientific wonders. I spent much time there doing research of my own. The people of your world invest so much time in meaningless experiments. I love it! To think that NASA used up billions and billions of dollars just to send a living human being to the moon." Cid stiffened at this remark. "Ah, meaningless inventions."  
  
"Yes, but why me?!" Alex asked impatiently.  
  
"So much like Midgar, your great cities," Hojo went on as if Alex hadn't even asked, "They're so much cleaner, though. A city that managed to become magnificent without the power of mako. the idea fascinates me!"  
  
"What's he talking about?" Cid whispered ambiguously in Alex's ear while throwing unsure glances at the scientist.  
  
"Earth," Alex whispered back, "the place where I come from." Cid stared at Hojo, no less baffled than he was a moment before.  
  
The crazed Professor continued, "Alexander, your world is fascinating-so imaginative! It intrigued me to no end. That's why I decided to introduce my story there. It was just a little experiment of mine. I wanted to see how your people would interpret the theory of mako and materia, of Shin-Ra and Sephiroth." He smiled malevolently. "I heard it was incredibly popular, no?"  
  
"All right, asshole," Cid started, "Give the kid the information he wants, or the Venus Gospel is gonna-"  
  
"Captain Highwind," Hojo ingratiatingly sneered, "You would love to experience it. At every glance at the sky you'd catch a glimpse of an airplane. It's common to ride on one, nearly as common as riding in a car. They're not crude things like your Tiny Bronco. No, these are sophisticated. And the space program. like I mentioned earlier, they've already touched the moon."  
  
Cid's attention was captured, and he was struggling in a limbo between fascination and mistrust. "What. is this all true?" He could have been addressing either Alex or Hojo, but the question wasn't answered.  
  
"Ah," Hojo said, finally finding what he was looking for. "Here it is." Hojo had an exact copy of the old journal Alex had found in the basement of the Shinra Mansion. Alex wondered if it might have been the same book. The fading letters, "The Ethereal Project," were dusted and mangled in the exact same way.  
  
"It's quite a remarkable device I've given you," the scientist continued, "It can do practically anything, I imagine." A bizarre smile played across the man's face. "Why, I suppose you could even watch Saturday Night Live tonight at 11:30 at your room in the Junon inn. if you know how to operate the device properly, that is."  
  
Alex stared at Hojo with unfeigned suspicion. "Why are you doing this? Why'd you let me have the book?" Cid watched in mute perplexity, stunned by the odd discoveries.  
  
"Perhaps I WANT you to know the magnitude of the experiment you're getting involved in." He shrugged. "It's no matter now. What's done is done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some business to attend to."  
  
Cid seemed to finally come out of his trancelike state. "Now wait just a damned minute!" In a flash his spear was at the throat of the mad Professor.  
  
"Kill me, and you'll never know the truth," Hojo explained cryptically and calmly, "or how to stop it."  
  
Smiling sadistically, Hojo disappeared in a flash of blinding light, the hand in his labcoat pocket surely working the controls of the device that was hidden there all along.  
  
"Damn," Cid whispered.  
  
"So what do we do now?" Alex asked. He tried to be the leader, he tried to take control. But he was no hero. He had just began to realize that he was scared out of his mind. //I'm stuck here with no way of getting home and I'm scared shitless!//  
  
"We go to the others and read that fucking book of yours. That's what we do!" Cid exclaimed.  
  
"And then?" Alex asked again.  
  
Cid shrugged. "And then we wait."  
  
They made their way out into the neglected back street of Junon where it was starting to rain.  
  
^_^_^  
  
Thunder shook the tiny hotel room as pellets of rain slammed against the lone window behind the cheap plastic table. The rain had not let up since Alex and Cid had returned form their excursion. In fact, it had gotten much worse. The electric lights flickered more than once, threatening to cease at the next flash of lightning.  
  
By the soft glowing light of the lamp Alex strained to read the half- illegible handwriting, this time reading it fully, trying to understand the magnitude of the words written. He sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed reading the journal entries out loud and carefully turning the rotting pages.  
  
Yawning, he looked around the cramped room.  
  
Cid was sprawled out on the chair by the cheap plastic table smoking a cigarette. The blue smoke curled out of his open mouth and rose to the ceiling where it slowly collected into a small cloud.  
  
On the opposite side of the room Irvine and Yuffie were sitting side by side on the second bed. Their faces were illuminated by the glow of the television. They were jointly watching a cheesy cartoon. Irvine was laughing at all the appropriate moments. Yuffie said he was doing better. He was telling her of where he came from and what it was like. The boy was almost back to normal. Almost. Irvine's eyes still shone an incandescent green in the shadows. Nothing would take away the tattoo on his arm, the roman numeral 16.  
  
"Come on, kid," Cid interrupted rudely, "What's the damn thing say next?"  
  
Alex started and looked back down at the yellowed pages.  
  
"'April 8, 2012. I have a human specimen. It's the President's daughter,'" he read from the journal.  
  
"Fuck," Cid cursed, "It's bad enough that the bastard had a son! I never knew he had another kid."  
  
Alex shrugged in a perplexed manner and continued without spoken comment. "'The President's wife died giving birth, and Mr. Shinra blames her death on the baby. The man was most generous and gave the child to me for study.'"  
  
Alex looked up from the book for a moment. "Jesus, that's sick!"  
  
"No shit," Cid stated irascibly, "What did you really expect?" He gestured to the journal with his lit cigarette. "What's it say next?"  
  
"Um." He tried to find the place where he left off. There. It was a new entry. There was nothing important in the handwriting he was deciphering now. Technical statistics that no one but the Professor himself would understand. It said little about the mysterious Shinra child.  
  
Alex tired of it quickly. He turned to a random place farther into the journal. "'February 15, 2014,'" He began, reading aloud so Cid could hear, "'The experiment was a success! I have effectively transported a human being into the other realm that I have been studying. It was the Shinra child. I was tiring of her rather quickly. She was no longer very cooperative. I am glad to be rid of her.'  
  
'The child was not harmed. She was, however, knocked unconscious in the process. This is one of many errors I tend to correct before I plan to visit this realm myself.'"  
  
"It still doesn't answer the question, does it?" Cid asked. Alex was about to reply when Cid continued. "Ah, don't worry about it, kid. The guy's too damned intelligent to just GIVE the answer to you. The whole thing's like a game to him. You'll figure it out eventually."  
  
"Yeah," Alex whispered. Why me? Why'd he give his little invention to ME?  
  
^_^_^  
  
Rinoa remembered vaguely that she had fallen asleep in Squall's arms. Squall's arms usually felt warm and comforting, but now they felt cold.  
  
She pulled away gently from his grasp, sensing that something was terribly wrong. Squall's arms fell lifelessly to the ground. Squall was pale. A trickle of blood was dried at the corner of his gaping mouth. His eyes were open and glazed over in a masquerade of horror.  
  
Fresh blood was still gushing from his slit throat, and it stained his white shirt and his jacket. The blood had collected in a pool of deep crimson beneath him.  
  
It was all over the place-It stained the powder blue sweater Rinoa wore.  
  
She screamed and backed away, wiping furiously and unsuccessfully at the blood. Squall was dead. Squall was dead. Squall was dead.  
  
She couldn't stop the thought and she couldn't stop the scream. He was dead and his dead eyes were gazing up at her.  
  
She backed up as far away from him as she could.  
  
Her senses perceived the landscape for the first time. There was absolutely no sign of life. Her surroundings were bare and monochrome, a dusty gray color. It was cold, like nuclear winter, but the sky was an angry red color, cast by an enormous meteor suspended in the hellish sky.  
  
Everything was tinted in its crimson glow. The gray rocks and dust, Squall, and all the other dead bodies.  
  
There WERE others. As far as the eye could see lied lifeless human corpses. Some of them she knew, and some of them she did not, but they were all dead. All of them. except for one.  
  
He was alive in the physical sense, but that was all. His psyche had given up the fight long ago. It was useless to struggle now. She always wins. //Fight? What fight? Who is "she?"//  
  
Suddenly this "she" appeared in front of him, his living body and his dead soul. She forced his tearful eyes to look upon her unholy face, the one who causes great suffering-Jenova.  
  
"Jenova." Rinoa whispered the unfamiliar name, tasting the evil upon her lips. She always wins.  
  
Suddenly her heart went out to the poor man standing in front of her, his platinum locks blowing in the wind, catching on the bloodied blade he held in his left hand. "She" had made him do that too. Kill the people. Kill them all. Mother is the only one that matters.  
  
Rinoa walked closer. The two didn't seem to notice her.  
  
One word escaped the beautiful crying man's lips: "Why?" Soft, barely a whisper, but said with suck conviction.  
  
"Because you are my son," she responded with mock affection, "and you are but an expendable pawn in my game." She tore the sword from his grasp with acerbity and Rinoa gasped in surprise.  
  
Rinoa could not let her fears stop her. There was something about the woman's silver hair that intrigued her. She had to move closer.  
  
"I am stronger now," she continued, "I can not be stopped." She gestured to the gruesome scene around her. "Here, you see the results?"  
  
The man looked up at her with raw emotion-anger, sorrow, horror, dread. ".hate.you." he tried to say. It was a whimper. "I HATE you!" he said again, stronger this time, with as much force behind the words as he could muster.  
  
Jenova chuckled. "Ah, my son, Sephiroth. You have served me well, but my use for you has now run out."  
  
Rinoa knew the silver hair now, where she could place it. Jenova was Ultimicia! It was her as clear as day. She wasn't full of pomp and costume like the last time she was seen at her castle, but rather plain. Plain, yet seductive and powerful looking.  
  
"You.!" Rinoa uttered. This time Jenova noticed her.  
  
"My sons and daughters," She said as she pulled Sephiroth towards her and held the sword to his throat, "You are all my puppets!"  
  
Rinoa knew what this Sephiroth was going through. He was being controlled just like Edea used to be under her control. Rinoa was too, and Seifer at one point in time. They were all the same: victims of Jenova's terror.  
  
Suddenly Jenova let loose Sephiroth's limp body and the bloodied sword sliced clean through his throat. Blood gushed out of the fatal wound and his eyes gazed at her pleadingly, like Squall's.  
  
"Nooooooooooo!" Rinoa screamed and lunged at the sorceress Ultimicia. She conjured up her most powerful spell-ultima-and prepared to blast her rival into oblivion.  
  
As the fatal green light spread from her hands and demolished everything, the beauty with the silver hair remained, a wry smirk on her face.  
  
"My daughter, my daughter," she said, while ultima raged around her, "You can do nothing now. The game is over, and I have won!"  
  
Rinoa threw herself into the fire of her own spell and screamed in anguish.  
  
Whenever she woke up in Squall's arms later on that night, it felt as if Jenova's laughter was still ringing in her ears.  
  
End Ch. 15 at 04.16.02.  
  
EMERALD'S NOTES [July 14, 2002. 1:21 AM]: Okay, so it's pretty pitiful when one chapter takes me this long to complete and get posted. :::sigh::: It wasn't writer's block. well, not exactly. I had trouble with this chapter. I created this whole section and then deleted it because I didn't think it fit in. If you absolutely MUST know, it had hints of a Quitsis/Vincent relationship forming. I didn't like it, so it went bye-bye. As for the chapter, the only section I'm really happy with is Rinoa's dream. ~_^ I kinda feel bad for Sephy, Squall and the rest of the world, but hey, I liked it, okay? As for why it took me clost to 5 months to get this thing up? Well. I work just about every day now. I hardly ever get time off. It's okay. I need the $. But when school starts in the fall I should be able to pick up the pace a little more. I'll only be working on the weekends then. So. wish me luck and lots of writing time! 


	16. This is Not an Update

"Transcending Reality" by Meirelle Emeraldeyes

_Don't care for me, don't cry_

_Let's say goodbye, adieu._

_It's time to say goodbye, I know that in time_

_It will just fade away, it's time to say goodbye._

--Emily Bindiger, "Adieu"

^_^_^

**Chapter Sixteen: This is Not an Update**

The characters from Emerald's story, _Transcending Reality, stand around and be bored. It has been over a year since her last update and everyone is getting restless. _

The characters are restless. 

Reno is stuck somewhere in a top-secret research facility while Rufus is God-knows-where doped up on morphine and mako. Samantha has been held hostage by Sephiroth for over a year now and both of them are about ready to go on strike. 

The unresolved sexual tension between Seifer and Elena grew to astronomical proportions. Soon they were unable to stand it any longer and they had mad passionate sex behind the Treno Auction House. Elena is now pregnant with Seifer's love child. Rude feels left out. He goes off to find Freya.

Vincent fucked Quitsis long and hard while doing some kinky S & M things as Chaos. That's okay. Quitsis can defend herself. She has her whip, remember? :D Oh, what a cute demented couple.

Zids (Zidane, for those of you who don't believe in nicknames) has become Jenova/Ultimicia's bitch.

Cid and Alexander are patiently waiting in the basement of that old, run-down Junon house that Hojo uses for his "Secret Projects." A mutated Kalm Wolf eats them for dinner.

The fans are restless.

The reviews have stopped coming. Emerald got one yesterday saying that if she wasn't going to update she should at least say so. Perhaps she took the hint. 

With sad eyes, Emerald looks at all her pleading fans. "I know this is hard for you," she says, "It's hard for me too. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about this story. I love it. And even though I haven't updated in over a year my absence wasn't official. There was no 'Yup, I quit with this fic' note. There was always that chance, however slim, that I might get up off my ass and update. But that chance never came. And now I think it's long past the time I should have given up. It's time I made it official."

Some unseen upset fan sitting in the darkness throws a rotten tomato at Emerald's head. She cringes. "I am really sorry. With all my heart I am, but there is a possibility that this may not be the end."

Another fan, who was previously crying hysterically, stopped and lifted her head in interest. 

"Yes," Emerald continued, "I have been thinking about a re-write for some time now. I can make the characters better, fix the plot line, and avoid the writer's block I got myself stuck in. I'm not quite sure if I'm going to do it or not. Don't give your hopes up. I may. I may not. Whatever happens, happens. I won't make any promises."

One fan stars cursing in Wutaiian at Emerald. "I…" She sheds a tear as she chokes on her words. "I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me too. Regardless of whether or not I write an update, _this _version of _Transcending Reality is over." _

She gets a wistful look in her eyes. She whispers: "I can finally let the characters rest in peace…"

_End  Story__ at 08.13.03._

**_GOODBYE, SO LONG, ADIEU…_**


End file.
